REESE   LIBRARY 


1 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Deceived       ^lAR  27  1894 
Accessions  No-  iS^/-/*/*/ 


O 


ATLAS  SERIES,   No.  9. 


HIGHER   EDUCATION 


AND 


A  Common  Language. 


BY 


PHILIP  GILBERT   HAMERTON, 

PRESIDENT  McCOSH,  PROF.  ANGELO  DE  GUBERNATIS, 


AND    OTHERS. 


NEW   YORK  : 
A.    S.     BARNES    &    CO., 

in  &  113  WILLIAM  STREET. 


A     UNIVERSAL     LANGUAGE 


AND 


HIGHER     EDUCATION. 


ATLAS   SERIES,  No.  9. 


CONTENTS. 

PACK 

INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION     BY     LANGUAGE.        By    Philip 

Gilbert  Hamerton I 

THE  REFORM  IN  HIGHER  EDUCATION 16 

UPPER  SCHOOLS.     By  President  McCosh 33 

STUDY  OF  THE  GREEK  AND  LATIN  CLASSICS.      By  Charles  Elliott  ...     58 

THE  UNIVERSITY  SYSTEM   IN    ITALY^    By  Prof.  Angela  de  Gubematis  of 

Florence^  Italy 71 

UNIVERSAL  EDUCATION.     By  Ray  Palmer. 84 

INDUSTRIAL  ART  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.     By  Eaton 

S.  Drone 106 


ight^  1879,  by  A.  S.  Barns*  fr»  Co. 


/FORN1A.  , 


AT  LAS    SERIES 

No.    9. 


INTERNATIONAL  COMMUNICATION 
BY  LANGUAGE. 

PHILIP  GILBERT  HAMERTON. 

A  MONG  the  innumerable  progeny  of  novel  ideas  and  specula- 
* -j^  tions  which  have  owed  their  origin  to  modern  facilities  of  com- 
munication, is  the  suggestion  which  may  be  met  with  from  time  to1 
time  in  European  newspapers,  and  possibly  also  in  American  ones, 
that  men  will  see  so  much  of  each  other  in  the  future,  and  feel  so- 
strongly  the  necessity  for  means  of  completer  intercourse,  as  to  grad- 
ually abandon  many  of  the  languages  now  spoken,  confining  them- 
selves to  two  or  three  of  the  most  highly  developed,  and  finally,, 
perhaps,  resting  satisfied  with  one.  This  idea  has  arisen  at  the  same 
time  with  political  conceptions  of  equal  novelty,  and  of  a  strikingly 
similar  character.  The  parallel  political  theory  is  that  the  world 
will  come  to  consist  of  a  very  few  great  Statts,  which  finally,  eithet 
by  friendly  agreement  or  the  military  predominance  of  one  of  them> 
will  place  the  supreme  government  of  the  whole  planet  in  the  hands 
of  a  single  council,  perhaps  even  of  a  single  individual,  in  whose 
person  will  be  concentrated  the  world-power  which  was  the  dream 
of  Alexander  and  Caesar  and  Napoleon,  yet  only  partially  realized 
by  the  mightiest  of  those  three  conquerors.  There  is  unquestion- 
ably a  movement  both  in  politics  and  in  languages  which  seems  to  lead 
in  this  direction,  and  to  lend  some  countenance  to  speculations  so 
apparently  extravagant  as  these ;  but  at  the  same  time  there  are 


2  INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE. 

tendencies  of  an  exactly  opposite  character  which  may  have  a 
strongly  neutralizing  effect,  so  as  to  prevent  forever  the  full  accom 
plishment  of  such  results  as  those  just  indicated.  Thus,  although 
the  peoples  agglomerate  into  mighty  States,  their  feelings  of  nation- 
ality are  certainly  stronger  than  they  were  before  recent  changes 
The  Italian  or  German  of  to-day  has  feelings  of  national  pride  anc 
importance  that  could  not  by  any  possibility  have  been  experienced 
by  the  Tuscan  or  Bavarian  of  twenty  years  ago  ;  and  even  the  defeat 
of  France  has  produced  in  that  country  a  heat  and  concentration  of 
national  sentiment  unknown  under  the  Second  Empire.  Successes 
and  failures  may  equally  contribute  to  enhance  the  strength  of 
national  sentiment.  The  success  of  the  United  States  in  over- 
coming a  great  rebellion  augmented  it,  just  as  the  failure  of  France 
in  a  great  foreign  struggle  augmented  it  also.  And  it  does  not 
follow  that  because  people  belonging  to  the  same  nationality  can 
join  together  and  form  a  nation,  others  who  belong  to  different 
nationalities  can  join  together  and  do  the  same  thing,  unless  by  the 
gradual  process  which  may  be  called  the  absorption  of  immigrants. 

If  the  nationalities  remain,  the  languages  will  remain  along  with 
them.  It  is  possible,  no  doubt,  for  a  nation  to  have  very  powerful 
national  feelings  without  a  language  peculiar  to  itself.  It  may  have 
'been  founded  by  colonists,-  like  the  United  States,  and  retain  the 
language  of  the  mother  country;  or  it  may  be  a  little  country  sur- 
rounded by  large  neighbors,  and  use  their  languages  as  Switzerland 
uses  French,  German,  and  Italian,  all  the  while  preserving  an  intense 
sentiment  of  nationality  though  its  languages  are  diverse,  and  all 
three  of  them  foreign.  But  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  by  what  arts 
of  persuasion  you  could  induce  a  great  independent  State,  that  has  a 
tongue  of  its  own,  to  abandon  that  tongue  voluntarily  and  adopt 
another  in  its  place,  merely  in  order  that  there  might  be  fewer  lan- 
guages on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  less  of  Babel  confusion. 
A  very  good  argument  might  be  made  out  for  the  abandonment  of 
French,  for  instance.  There  can  not  be  a  doubt  that  English  is  at 
the  same  time  simpler,  more  copious,  and  more  useful  because  more 
widely  spread,  while  its  literature  is  incomparably  richer.  Whether 
for  purposes  of  business,  or  of  study  or  travel,  English  is  a  more 
valuable  possession  than  French.  Yet  what  a  hopeless  enterprise  it 
would  be  to  persuade  the  French  to  abandon  the  tongue  which  is 
their  own  peculiar  inheritance!  It  is  conceivable  that  if,  after  1815, 
France  had  been  divided  like  Poland,  which  she  easily  might  have 
been,  a  system  of  rigorous  repression,  applied  with  unrelenting  and 


INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE.          3 

systematic  cruelty,  might  in  the  course  of  ages  have  stamped  the 
language  out,  and  substituted  for  it  the  languages  of  the  conquerors  ; 
but  it  is  inconceivable  how  such  a  result  could  ever  be  brought  about 
by  the  arguments  of  linguists.  Nor  would  the  time  be  well  chosen 
just  at  present  to  offer  similar  arguments  to  Germany  and  Italy 
They  owe  their  unity  chiefly  to  their  languages,  and  are  therefore 
likely  to  cherish  them  for  ages,  the  duration  of  which  it  is  impossible 
to  foresee. 

The  uneasiness  felt  in  traveling  in  countries  of  whose  languages 
we  are  ignorant  has  given  rise  to  these  speculations  about  a  possible 
future. unity  of  language,  and  also  to  speculations  of  more  modest 
and  practicable  proportions  about  a  universal  tongue,  which,  with- 
out displacing  the  languages  actually  existing,  might  be  learned  in 
addition  to  them  by  the  educated  class  of  every  nation.  Some 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  imagine  the  possibility  of  creating  an  artificial 
language,  as  you  might  make  a  lump  of  artificial  stone,  and  it  has 
been  thought  that  a  language  created  by  human  ingenuity  in  this 
perfectly  conscious  way  would  have  great  advantages  in  simplicity 
and  consistency,  and  therefore  be  much  easier  to  learn.  One  or  two 
linguists  have,  we  believe,  actually  attempted  the  construction  of 
such  a  tongue,  and  although  the  task  is  one  of  the  most  formidable 
proportions,  it  may  not  be  beyond  the  capacity  of  a  man  with  great 
knowledge  of  the  true  laws  that  have  governed  the  growth  of  the 
natural  languages.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  if  an  artificial  lan- 
guage were  elaborately  invented,  and  adopted  by  a  certain  number 
of  clever  men,  it  would  be  found  hard  and  inflexible,  and  totally 
wanting  in  those  rich  resources  of  expression  by  phraseology  which 
comes  from  experience  alone.  Hence  the  skepticism  with  which 
this  scheme  has  generally  been  regarded  by  those  who  were  clearly 
aware  of  the  true  nature  of  language.  "  You  might  invent  the 
words,"  they  say,  "  but  you  could  not  invent  the  thousand  happy 
turns  of  expression  that  convey  so  much  more  than  the  words  them- 
selves convey."  So  it  is  believed  most  generally,  and  with  good  rea- 
son, that  if  any  universal  medium  of  communication  is  felt  to  be  a 
necessity  for  mankind,  the  only  practical  way  to  attain  it  must  be  to 
choose  some  language  already  existing  and  make  it  the  common 
medium  of  intercourse  among  men  of  education  everywhere. 

This  has  been  done  already  in  a  natural,  unconscious  way.  There 
has  never  been  a  formal  convention  among  nations  to  choose  a  lan- 
guage for  their  intercourse,  yet  for  long  ages  Latin  was  so  employed, 
and  French  has  since  taken  its  place,  though  without  occupying  it 


i  INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE. 

entirely.  We  are  certainly  worse  off  in  Europe  for  a  medium  of 
general  intercourse  than  were  our  predecessors  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  They  all  learned  Latin  at  school,  in  a  slow  way  perhaps, 
yet  in  a  thorough  and  scholarly  way,  and  it  was  a  substantial  posses- 
sion for  them  afterward  when  they  used  it  for  political  or  literary 
correspondence ;  but  the  Englishman  or  German  of  to-day  is  gene- 
rally very  far  indeed  from  any  thing  like  correct  scholarship  in  French. 
The  new  arrangement  by  which  French  was  adopted  in  the  place  of 
Latin,  instead  of  some  other  modern  language,  may  possibly  have 
been  caused  by  the  linguistic  incompetence  of  the  French  themselves, 
which  is  proverbial  in  Europe.  Their  language  may  have  been 
adopted  from  necessity,  because  it  was  found  that  their  diplomatists 
could  learn  no  other.  The  ambassador  who  represented  France  at 
Berlin  at  the  outbreak  of  the  last  war  did  not  understand  German, 
and  was  therefore,  in  a  most  important  and  even  essential  point, 
actually  less  qualified  for  his  post  than  an  ordinary  newspaper  corre- 
spondent would  have  been,  or  even  a  commercial  traveler.  If  a  mod- 
ern language  is  to  be  selected  as  the  common  medium,  it  is  clear 
that  the  State  of  which  it  is  the  native  tongue  will  profit  by  the 
choice,  if  indeed  we  may  consider  it  a  benefit  to  be  exempted  from  a 
study  so  useful  for  the  development  of  the  faculties.  The  German 
Government  appears  at  one  time  to  have  entertained  the  project  of 
displacing  French  as  the  language  of  diplomacy  ;  but  a  common 
medium  of  some  kind  is  so  much  of  a  necessity  that  the  most  recent 
idea  is  to  seek  it  in  modern  Greek.  This  is  not  so  wild  an  idea  as  at 
first  sight  it  may  easily  appear.  We  are  told  that  modern  Greek  is 
still  near  enough  to  the  Greek  of  Plato  for  our  study  of  the  ancient 
language  to  prepare  us  admirably  for  the  modern  one,  and  most  of 
us  who  have  received  what  is  called  a  liberal  education  know  some- 
thing, at  least,  of  the  former.  Besides  this,  there  is  a  steady  tendency 
in  Greece  itself  to  recur  to  ancient  forms,  just  as  the  best  English 
poets  and  prose  writers  of  the  present  day  recur  affectionately  to 
turns  of  expression  which  were  considered  obsolete  by  our  grand- 
fathers. But  the  strongest  argument  in  favor  of  modern  Greek  is 
said  to  be  its  perfect  adaptability  to  the  expression  of  new  ideas  and 
the  nomenclature  of  new  things,  in  which  it  is  greatly  superior  to  the 
old  common  medium,  Latin.  The  wants  of  general  society  in  a  lan- 
guage, with  its  new  sciences  and  arts,  must  be  vastly  more  extended 
than  the  wants  of  an  ancient  body  like  the  Church  of  Rome,  which 
still  uses  Latin  in  some  degree  as  a  living  language.  There  are 
certainly  a  few  Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastics,  we  have  no  means  of 


I 

INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE.          i) 

ascertaining  how  many,  in  whose  minds  Latin  is  still  vigorously  alive, 
though  not  the  Latin  of  Cicero ;  but  even  this  change  in  the  lan- 
guage is  itself  a  proof  of  vitality,  for  there  is  no  permanence  in  any 
human  speech  until  it  becomes  a  fossil.  Some  of  these  ecclesiastics 
speak  Latin  with  an  astonishing  fluency,  and  write  it  with  great 
rapidity ;  but  the  accomplishment  must  have  been  (at  least  to  this 
degree  of  perfection)  very  rare  at  the  Council  of  the  Vatican,  or  the 
differences  of  pronunciation  must  have  rendered  it  much  less  useful 
than  might  have  been  expected.  The  Pope  himself  uses  French 
most  frequently  in  his  personal  intercourse  with  foreigners  of  all 
nations,  whether  laymen  or  ecclesiastics.  The  advantage  of  Greek 
is  that  it  is  habitually  spoken  by  living  men,  and  that  it  would  be  so 
easy  to  have  schools  at  Athens  for  language,  as  the  French  have  one 
for  fine  art.  These  schools  would  at  least  settle  doubtful  points  in 
pronunciation,  which  always  constitute  one  of  the  greatest  practical 
hindrances  to  human  intercourse. 

There  has  never  been  an  epoch  in  history  at  which  international 
communication  was  so  general  as  it  is  to-day,  and  yet  there  has  never 
been  an  epoch  so  unprovided  with  a  satisfactory  means  of  carrying  it 
on.  With  his  hereditary  Latin,  and  his  thoroughly  acquired  Greek, 
an  ancient  Roman  gentleman  could  go  to  any  part  of  the  world  that 
he  cared  to  visit,  and  hold  easy  intercourse  with  his  equals.  The 
cultivated  Italian  or  Englishman  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  went 
about  talking  Latin  well  enough  to  converse  upon  subjects  that  were 
worth  talking  about.  Here  is  a  little  scene  which  occurred  at  the 
University  of  Oxford  in  1584,  when  Giordano  Bruno  visited  it.  Bruno 
was  beginning  to  discourse  upon  the  theory  of  Copernicus,  when  a 
certain  doctor  asked  him  if  he  could  speak  English,  and  the  answer 
came  that  Bruno  only  knew  a  few  of  the  commonest  words.  When 
asked,  further,  why  he  gave  so  little  attention  to  the  English  lan- 
guage, the  Italian  philosopher  answered  at  once,  "  Che  gli  onorati 
gentiluomini,  coi  quali  soleva  conversare,  sapevano  tutti  parlare  o 
latino  o  francese  o  spagnuolo  o  italiano."  And  now  mark  what  fol- 
lows, and  think  whether  our  own  century  could  match  it  or  not :  "  La 
conversazione  incomincib  adunque  in  Latino''' 

Here  are  a  number  of  gentlemen,  men  of  the  world,  and  doctors 
of  the  university,  sitting  at  their  ease  round  a  supper-table,  and  be- 
cause a  foreign  philosopher  happens  to  be  present,  they  all  turn  the 
conversation  quite  readily  into  Latin,  the  subjects  being  the  highest 
speculations  of  the  time,  and  they  go  on  with  the  greatest  animation. 
Evidently  these  men  really  did  possess  a  medium  of  communication 


6  INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE. 

which  is  practically  lost  to  us.  If  we  were  to  attempt,  without  the 
most  labored  preparation,  a  Latin  discussion  on  the  Copernican 
system,  we  should  find  ourselves  struggling  in  such  Latinity  as  that 
of  Lord  DuffenVs  famous  speech  at  the  Icelandic  dinner-table.  We 
might  use  Latin  cleverly  in  fun,  as  Lord  DufTerin  did,  but  we  could 
not  use  it  in  serious  earnest  for  hours  together,  as  those  Elizabethan 
gentlemen  did. 

The  next  question  that  concerns  us  is  whether  we  possess  a  sub- 
stitute for  their  Latin.  There  is  a  general  belief  that  our  French  is 
this  substitute,  and  so  no  doubt  it  might  be  if  it  were  learned  with 
any  accuracy  and  thoroughness ;  but  it  is  surprising  how  rare  is  any 
accurate  scholarship  in  French.  Foreigners  do  not,  as  a  rule,  appear 
to  take  any  pride  or  pleasure  in  being  delicately  accurate  in  French, 
although  the  language  fully  rewards  the  student  who  cares  for  accu- 
racy, and  pursues  it.  The  plain  truth  is  that  almost  every  English 
gentleman  has  a  contempt  for  French ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  get 
over  such  a  feeling  as  this,  because  it  is  grounded  on  the  deepest 
national  antipathies.  One  of  the  greatest  advantages  of  Latin  as  a 
means  of  general  intercourse  was  that  no  nation  felt  any  hatred  or 
jealousy  of  the  ancient  Romans,  whose  power  had  ceased  to  exist  ; 
and  there  was  considerable  tact  in  the  proposition  to  select  modern 
Greek  for  the  same  use,  since  the  Greece  of  our  day  is  much  too 
insignificant  a  State  to  excite  bitter  feelings  in  the  breasts  of  culti- 
vated foreigners.  M.  Taine  has  an  anecdote  about  a  French  teacher 
in  England,  who  fished  for  a  compliment  by  saying  to  an  English 
gentleman,  "  You  must  esteem  our  language  very  highly,  since  you 
have  it  taught  to  your  children  ; "  but  the  Englishman  answered, 
with  more  veracity  than  politeness,  "  No,  we  don't — we  despise  it." 
Even  Sam  Weller's  father,  in  Pickwick,  shared  this  prevalent  feeling 
when  he  observed  that  he  didn't  think  much  of  that  language,  as 
Frenchmen  who  intended  to  say  "  water  "  said  "  O."  There  is  no 
such  feeling  in  England  about  Italian;  although  whatever  objections 
may  be  urged  against  French  might  with  at  least  equal  force  be  urged 
against  the  sister  tongue  ;  but  Italy  is  a  political  pet  of  England  ; 
and  France  has  been  much  too  big  and  too  combative  for  a  pet. 

It  would  be  an  amusing  yet  thankless  task  to  trace  some  of  the 
curious  inaccuracies  which  have  had  their  origin  in  this  contempt. 
A  recent  critic  has  asserted  that  Alison's  History  of  Europe  abounds 
in  faults  in  French.  We  never  read  that  History,  but  daily  experi- 
ence in  English  literature  in  general  convinces  us  that  the  critic 
must  be  right.  It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  any  English  writer 


INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE.  f 

should  be  able  to  quote  French  correctly.  Look  at  our  journalism, 
for  instance  !  It  teems  with  French  quotations,  and  in  every  quota- 
tion there  is  pretty  sure  to  be  one  blunder  when  there  are  not  sev- 
eral, while  the  ignorance  which  fails  to  detect  these  is  accompanied 
by  the  keenest  contempt  for  journalists  on  the  other  side  the  Chan- 
nel who  do  exactly  the  same  thing  with  English  words  and  sentences. 
We  remember  finding  in  an  English  newspaper  a  most  cutting  little 
article  on  the  errors  of  French  journalists,  and  yet  in  the  very  same 
paper  there  were  six  glaring  blunders  in  French  orthography  or 
grammar.  Some  of  these  errors,  in  both  countries,  are  merely 
printers'  errata;  but  many  others  are  clearly  due  to  persistent 
neglience  and  ignorance.  Just  as  no  Frenchman  was  ever  able  to 
spell  the  Isle  of  Wight  or  the  Whig  Party  with  any  certainty,  because 
the  relative  positions  of  the  g  and  h  embarrass  him  ;  so  the  English- 
man is  liable  to  make  bad  shots  in  matters  of  accent  which  in  French 
are  of  the  utmost  importance,  since  they  affect  both  grammar  and 
pronunciation.  It  is  said  of  French  journalists  that  they  can  never 
learn  how  to  spell  the  names  of  English  public  men  ;  but  to  this  day 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  body  in  England  really  and  firmly 
knows  how  to  spell  the  name  of  the  well-known  author  of  the  Vie  de 
Je'sus.  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  spells  it  Renan,  which  is  wrong  ;  others 
spell  it  Renan,  which  is  equally  wrong;  a  further  experiment  is  still 
possible,  which  would  be  Renan,  but  that  would  not  be  quite  right 
either.  In  the  same  way  we  find  Dore  frequently  written  Dore,  quite 
as  great  a  mistake  as  if  we  were  to  call  an  Englishman  Door  when 
his  name  was  Dorry ;  and  the  town  called  Macon  (famous  for  its  wine) 
is  nearly  always  written  Magon  by  English  people,  though  they  would 
be  hard  on  a  Frenchman  if  he  made  York  into  Yorse.  But  the  mere 
spelling  of  a  name  or  the  misplacing  of  a  title  is  a  matter  of  minor 
importance,  and  does  not  necessarily  involve  gross  ignorance  of  thp 
language.  The  wonderful  and  beautiful  blunders  are  those  which 
prove  that  the  writer  has  no  notion  how  the  language  is  constructed, 
in  which  he  sticks  odd  bits  of  it  together  that  can  not  possibly  fit, 
and  throws  a  whole  sentence  into  irremediable  confusion  by  altering 
the  meaning  of  some  particularly  important  word  that  he  has  utterly 
failed  to  understand.  Then  there  are  perilous  transitions  from  one 
language  to  another,  like  passing  from  ship  to  ship  in  the  open  sea. 
Speaking  of  Marshal  Mac-Mahon,  an  English  writer  thought  it 
would  look  well  to  finish  his  leader  with  a  bit  of  the  marshal's  own 
tongue,  so  he  tacked  a  line  of  French  to  the  end  of  his  own  English 
in  this  wise '  "  the  marshal  has  scst  suicide1"  !  Now  how  charmingly 


8          INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE. 

that  little  word  "  has  "  comes  in  !  See  how  perfectly  innocent  the 
Englishman  is  of  the  value  of  the  auxiliary  here !  But  there  are 
wonders  beyond  these  wonders.  The  enterprise  of  British  journalism 
does  not  rest  satisfied  with  mere  novelties  of  verbal  arrangement :  it 
enriches  the  French  language  itself  by  the  addition  of  words  that 
no  Frenchman  ever  heard  of  or  even  imagined.  Thus,  instead  of 
saying  "  horsewoman,"  one  English  journalist  habitually  writes  "  an 
equestrienne"  Mrs.  General  Baynes,  in  one  of  Thackeray's  novels, 
writes  to  her  sister  that  she  finds  Hindustani  of  the  greatest  use  to 
her  in  France,  for  whenever  her  French  runs  short  she  supplements 
it  with  that  Eastern  tongue,  which  answers  the  purpose  admirably. 
In  our  ignorance  of  Hindustani  we  infer  that  "Equestrienne  "  must  be 
a  Hindu  word,  for  there  is  no  such  word  in  French.  On  the  same 
principle  a  London  shopkeeper  has  advertised  "  Berceau-mttes  "  for 
many  years,  which  is  cockney  -  French  of  the  most  perfect  and 
exquisite  description. 

It  may,  however,  be  very  reasonably  objected  to  cases  of  this  kind 
that  although  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  a  journalist  or  a  shopkeeper 
from  being  highly  educated,  it  does  not  follow  of  necessity  that  he  is 
so.  These  occupations,  it  may  be  urged,  being  open  occupations, 
do  no4  afford  any  guarantee  of  culture,  and  it  is  unreasonable  to 
expec',  uncultivated  people  to  know  the  language  which  is  the  com- 
mon medium  of  communication  among  the  learned,  whether  it  be 
Latin  as  in  Bruno's  time,  or  French  as  it  is  supposed  to  be  in  our 
own.  But  what  seems  to  me  most  deeply  to  be  regretted  is  that 
the  educated  men  -of  the  present  day  do  not  really  and  truly  possess 
any  certain  means  of  communication  with  each  other ;  and  that  in 
this  respect  they  are  so  much  worse  off  than  their  predecessors, 
such  as  Milton  and  Bruno,  whose  Latin,  from  thorough  preliminary 
scholarship  and  incessant  practical  use,  was  always  an  available 
instrument  of  expression.  Our  men  of  highest  culture  seem  just  as 
liable  to  inaccuracies  in  their  French  as  our  ordinary  journalists  and 
shopkeepers.  It  is  ungracious  to  name  a  man  of  deserved  reputation 
in  connection  with  this  topic,  but  in  order  not  to  dwell  in  vague 
generalities  we  will  give  a  specific  instance  of  what  we  mean.  Let 
us  mention,  then,  one  of  the  most  cultivated  men  in  England,  a 
writer  of  quite  singularly  beautiful  English,  whose  mind  is  a  rare 
example  of  delicate  and  true  taste  refined  and  enlightened  by  exten- 
sive knowledge  and  wide  sympathy,  Mr.  Walter  H.  Pater,  Fellow 
of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford.  Mr.  Pater  published  a  book  not  very 
long  since,  containing  such  French  as  this:  "La philosophie"  he  says. 


INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE.          9 

"  c'est  la  microscope  de  la  pense'e ;  "  and  on  the  very  next  page  he  says, 
"  les  hommes  sont  tous  condamne's  a  morte  avec  des  sursis  inde *  finis" 
Fancy  a  scholar,  fond  of  quoting,  who  does  not  know  either  his 
orthography  or  his  genders!  We  can  not  think  that  Milton  ever 
quoted  or  wrote  Latin  in  this  slovenly  way.  Another  English  author 
of  reputation  gives  a  list  of  authorities  at  the  beginning  of  one  of  his 
works,  among  which  we  find  that  he  has  consulted  the  "  Catalogue 
spe'ciale  du  section  Russe"  The  cultivated  English  of  the  other  sex 
appear  equally  liable  to  these  little  errors.  For  example,  Mrs.  Grote, 
wife  of  the  distinguished  historian,  wrote  a  Life  of  Ary  Scheffer,  in 
which  there  are  several  curiosities,  and  here  is  one  of  them.  She 
makes  poor  Louis  Philippe  say  of  the  republicans,  "  des  quon  leur 
montre  le  bout  du  come  Us  vous  tournent  le  dos"  Now,  if  that  unfor- 
tunate sovereign  could  utter  such  French  as  this,  what  are  we  to  think 
of  the  reputation  for  literary  culture  which  belongs  to  the  House  of 
Orleans  ? 

The  French  words  constantly  used  in  English  are  often  used 
wrongly.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  origin  of  our  habit 
of  calling  out  encore  !  when  we  wish  to  hear  a  piece  of  music  over 
again.  It  is  just  possible  that  in  some  bygone  age  the  French  may 
have  done  this,  but  certainly  no  living  being  ever  heard  a  French* 
man  call  out  anything  but  "  bis  "  on  these  occasions.  Then  we  have 
adopted  the  French  word  morale ;  but  it  is  never  used  by  English- 
men, never  even  by  the  most  learned  historians,  without  a  blunder. 
The  learned  historians  say,  for  example,  "  Wellington  was  now  de- 
termined to  carry  on  the  war  a  P  entrance,  and  the  morale  of  his 
army  was  excellent."  Both  these  expressions  are  blunders.  A  Fou- 
trance  is  bad  French ;  it  ought  to  be  a  outrance ;  but  morale  used  in 
this  sense  is  still  worse.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  a  more 
absurd  mistake,  and  yet  it  is  universally  prevalent  among  English 
writers.  The  historians  mean  to  say  "  the  moral  of  the  army  was 
excellent,"  or,  in  plain  English,  that  the  men  were  in  a  cheerfully 
resolute  temper;  whereas  to  say  that  the  morale  of  an  army  is  good 
is  to  affirm  that  its  theories  of  morality  are  sound,  or  in  plain  words 
that  the  soldiers  are  convinced  that  they  ought  not  to  commit 
adultery,  etc.  Le  moral,  used  in  this  way,  means  mental  firmness, 
cheerfulness,  courage  to  face  difficulties  and  bear  privations  without 
being  cast  down  into  low  spirits  ;  la  morale  of  a  body  of  men  means 
their  theory,  more  or  less  severe,  of  moral  duty  and  obligation. 
Thus  a  lofty  morale  may  exist  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
person  with  a  low  moral.  You  may  be  utterly  discouraged  as  to  tern 


10        INTERNATIONAL  COMMUNICATION    BY  LANGUAGE. 

poral  affairs,  you  may  feel  quite  certain  that  your  worldly  position  is 
hopeless,  that  disease  and  ruin  have  you  in  their  clutches  for  the 
rest  of  your  days  on  earth,  yet  at  the  same  time  your  morale  may 
be  of  an  elevation  and  purity  to  gladden  the  angels  in  heaven. 
The  converse  is  also  true.  Your  moral  may  be  excellent  in  the 
military  sense,  that  is  to  say,  you  may  be  merry  under  fatigue,  and 
look  death  in  the  face  with  a  careless  jest  on  your  lips,  yet  have  such 
a  low  morale  that  you  may  see  no  particular  reason  for  not  com- 
mitting the  seven  deadly  sins  on  the  first  seven  favorable  oppor- 
tunities. Cromwell's  army  had  both,  the  ideal  knight  of  the  middle 
ages  had  both,  the  armies  of  Napoleon  had  one  without  the  other. 
The  two  things  are  so  independent  that  their  conjunction  or  their 
severance  is  a  favorite  subject  of  the  poet  and  the  novelist.  You 
have  them  together  in  Sir  Galahad,  together  in  Scott's  great  heroine 
Rebecca,  but  only  one  of  them  in  Brian  de  Bois-Guilbert. 

Now  to  any  one  who  has  thoroughly  realized  the  importance  of 
such  a  distinction  as  this,  the  prevalent  and  constantly  recujring 
blunder  of  English  writers  seems  evidence  that  they  are  outside  of 
French — evidence,  consequently,  that  French  is  not  studied  with 
sufficient  accuracy  to  be  a  clear  medium  of  communication  on  moral 
subjects.  How  is  it  possible  to  discuss  such  subjects  in  that  lan- 
guage without  being  aware  of  so  wide  a  difference  in  the  value  of 
words  as  that  which  we  have  just  indicated  ?  And  we  find  the  same 
unfitness  to  discuss  literary  questions  in  French,  owing  to  the  habit 
of  first  translating  French  expressions  into  literal  English,  and  then 
judging  of  them  by  the  translation.  This  process  was  curiously 
illustrated  by  a  recent  criticism  on  a  living  writer,  not  famous,  yet  a 
gifted  and  delicate  poet.  There  was  a  line  among  some  very  exquis- 
ite verses  with  the  words, 

"  Et  1'azur  plein  de  colombes." 

The  English  critic  asked  his  readers  if  they  had  ever  heard  any 
thing  so  absurd  as  "the  azure  full  of  pigeons?"  and  laughed  at  the 
author  pitilessly.  But  to  a  French  ear  the  expression  is  faultlessly 
beautiful ;  it  is  perfectly  descriptive,  .and  thoroughly  in  accordance 
with  the  true  genius  of  the  French  tongue.  The  way  in  which  this 
pernicious  habit  of  translating  a  foreign  tongue  into  our  own  and 
then  judging  of  it  by  the  translation  excludes  us  from  the  true 
genius  of  the  language  and  therefore  from  any  just  appreciation  of 
its  literature,  may  be  illustrated  by  a  single  word,  the  word  sauvage 
It  occurs  frequently  in  French  verse  and  in  the  best  descriptive  liter- 
ature ;  and  now  let  me  show  by  an  anecdote,  trifling  in  itself,  yet 


INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE.        11 

interesting  in  this  connection,  how  entirely  such  a  word  may  be 
misunderstood.  We  remember  an  English  officer  at  a  table  d'hdte 
who  spoke  French  fluently  enough  and  asked  for  canard  sauvage. 
Then  turning  to  me  with  a  laugh,  he  said,  "  How  absurd !  savage 
duck  !  "  Now  pray  observe  how  incapable  this  officer  was  of  enter- 
ing into  the  true  meaning  of  the  word  sauvage,  or  at  least  of  disso- 
ciating it  from  the  perverted  English  meaning  of  savage.  The  idea 
of  ferocity,  as  the  ferocity  of  a  savage  dog,  which  seemed  incon- 
gruous and  therefore  absurd  in  connection  with  a  duck,  is  a  purely 
English  idea,  not  belonging  to  the  foreign  word  at  all.  Consider 
the  derivation  of  sauvage.  It  comes  from  the  Provengal  salvage,  then 
you  have  it  in  Italian  selvaggio,  from  the  Latin  silvaticus,  from  silva, 
a  wood.  And  when  a  Frenchman  hears  the  word  "  sauvage  "  his 
mind  is  transported  at  once  to  wild  places,  such  as  woods  and  meres, 
where  wild-ducks  are  often  found.  Just  so  a  Frenchman  calls  a 
wild  plant  une  plant e  sauvage,  and  quite  rightly  (a  plant  of  the  woods), 
without  suspecting  that  some  English  critic  may  laugh  at  him  for 
saying  that  he  knows  a  bank  whereon  the  savage  thyme  grows. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  produce  more  numerous  instances  of  the  sort 
of  misunderstanding  which  is  fatal  to  perfect  literary  intercourse  in 
a  language  that  has  not  been  really  mastered  or  assimilated.  The 
position  of  the  average  European,  not  a  Frenchman,  supposed  to  be 
well-educated,  may  be  described  in  a  sentence.  His  Latin  is  useless 
for  intercourse  from  his  want  of  facility,  and  his  French  from  want 
of  accuracy.  The  absence  of  a  universal  means  of  communication 
produces  the  modern  polyglot,  who  knows  six  languages  well  enough 
to  order  his  dinner,  but  not  one  of  them  well  enough  to  employ  it 
in  intellectual  intercourse.  The  want  of  the  age  is  a  good  common 
medium,  available  for  all  social  and  intellectual  purposes,  thoroughly 
taught  to  every  educated  child  from  its  infancy,  and  constantly  prac- 
ticed afterward.  If,  as  appears  to  be  the  case,  our  national  jeal- 
ousies and  antipathies  prevent  the  hearty  adoption  of  French  for 
this  purpose,  while  the  same  causes  might  limit  the  use  of  English, 
it  really  does  seem  as  if  a  solution  of  the  difficulty  might  be  found 
in  modern  Greek.  The  first  step  would  be  the  creation  of  an  inter- 
national society  having  for  its  special  purpose  the  use  and  develop- 
ment of  the  common  medium  of  intercourse.  We  could  not  hope 
for  the  interference  of  Governments  till  private  association  had  done 
its  utmost ;  but  in  course  of  time,  and  in  a  more  enlightened  genera- 
tion than  our  own,  it  can  scarcely  be  too  much  to  hope  that  as 
education  is  already  considered  to  be  a  national  question,  it  may 


12        INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE. 

come  to  be  considered  an  international  concern  also,  and  that  the 
Governments  of  the  future  may  agree  in  adopting  a  common  means 
of  intercourse  for  their  people,  just  as  in  the  present  day  several  of 
them  have  agreed  to  adopt  a  common  monetary  system.  In  the 
course  of  a  single  generation,  if  the  leaders  of  the  human  race  so 
willed  it,  all  educated  men  and  women  might  possess  a  common 
language  in  addition  to  their  own  national  one,  and  this  language 
would  quickly  create  a  literature  of  its  own  addressed  to  every  culti- 
vated person  on  the  planet.  It  would  naturally  be  used  for  con- 
versation and  correspondence  among  educated  people  of  different 
countries,  not  only  for  intellectual,  but  even  for  commercial  purposes 
also. 

The  one  serious  difficulty  that  may  be  foreseen  already,  is  the 
difficulty  of  conveying  to  students  in  different  countries  the  exact 
shade  of  meaning  which  a  word  or  an  expression  should  be  under- 
stood to  bear.  We  already  feel  this  very  often  in  our  own  language 
when  dealing  with  subjects  that  seem  to  require  new  and  elaborate 
definitions  of  old  words,  and  we  have  to  make  such  definitions  afresh 
in  order  to  prevent  misunderstandings  which  would  be  sure  to  arise 
without  them.  Every  lawyer  is  familiar  with  this  difficulty,  and  takes 
care  that  not  only  the  general  sense  of  the  word,  but  the  special 
sense  that  it  is  to  bear  in  a  document,  shall  be  clearly  settled  and 
explained.  Now  every  language  is  so  closely  bound  up  with  national 
habits  and  sentiments,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  give  it  a 
meaning  which  may  be  current  every  where.  Let  us  test  this  by  one 
or  two  simple  experiments.  Try  to  translate  into  any  other  lan- 
guage the  expression  "  it  is  un-English."  The  difficulty  in  turning  this 
into  French  is  that  Anglais  and  English  do  not  mean  the  same  thing 
— there  are  deep  reserves  of  international  hostility,  or  at  least  of  dis- 
approval, in  the  word  Anglais,  and  equally  deep  reserves  of  national 
pride  and  self-complacency  in  the  word  English.  "  Une  jeune  fille 
Anglaise"  does  not  mean  what  "  an  English  girl  "  means — the  French 
expression  includes  a  reserve  of  disapproval  concerning  what  seems 
an  outrageous  amount  of  liberty  accorded  to  the  bold  young  creature  in 
question  :  the  English  expression  has  not  the  slightest  reserve  of  that 
kind,  but  is  full  of  pride  and  praise.  "  A  Frenchwoman  "  in  England 
is  generally  understood  to  mean  an  adulteress — une  Frangaise  means 
an  elegant  and  agreeable  person  who  knows  how  to  dress  neatly  and 
talk  well.  "  A  French  girl"  implies  a  strong  suspicion  about  morals 
and  religion — "  une  jeune  fille  "  implies  the  most  absolute  confidence 
in  an  ideal  purity  and  faith.  So  you  can  not  translate  clergyman 


INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE.        13 

into  French— prfare  conveys  a  wholly  different  idea,  as,  in  another 
way,  does  pasteur.  You  cannot  translate  House  of  Commons  into 
French  ;  the  French  newspapers  always  translate  it  Chambre  des  Com- 
munes, which,  though  near  in  sound,  is  as  wrong  as  it  possibly  can 
be,  for  we  have  no  communes  at  all  in  England,  the  English  borough 
being  quite  a  different  thing,  while  many  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  are  elected  by  the  counties.  Besides,  the  French  expres- 
sion misses  the  central  idea  of  the  English  one,  which  is  that  the  men 
elected  are  common  men,  that  is  to  say,  not  peers  of  the  realm.  Any 
attempt  to  explain  to  a  Frenchman  the  shade  of  meaning  implied  by 
the  word  "  commoner  "  would  be  futile  ;  we  need  the  familiarity  with 
national  tradition  to  perceive  it.  And  all  this  is  strictly  reciprocal. 
There  are  just  as  many  instances  in  which  national  habits  and  traditions 
make  French  expressions  unintelligible  out  of  France.  Alexandre 
Dumas  wrote  a  play  lately,  called  Monsieur  Alphonse.  Now  surely 
this  looks  simple  enough,  but  it  is  not  so  simple  as  it  looks.  Several 
Italian  journals  tried  to  explain  the  meaning  of  Monsieur  as  used 
here  in  full  before  the  Christian  name,  but  they  made  some  very  wide 
shots  indeed.  Every  Frenchman,  when  he  sees  "  Monsieur  Alphonse  " 
advertised  on  the  walls,  seizes  at  a  glance  what  Dumas  intended  to 
convey,  but  how  explain  it  to  a  foreigner  ?  And  yet  every  foreigner 
thinks  he  knows  what  Monsieur  means. 

It  might  be  thought,  however,  that  with  reference  to  matters 
more  closely  connected  with  the  higher  culture,  language  might  have 
a  meaning  more  generally  accepted  and  understood.  Yet  even  here 
the  same  difficulty  preser  ts  itself.  An  excellent  instance  of  this 
occurred  in  a  speech  of  Mr.  Lowe,  when  he  was  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  administration.  He  was  speaking  of 
universities,  and  he  said,  with  his  usual  brusquerie  of  manner,  "  Peo- 
ple talk  of  the  French  university — there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  university 
in  France."  Mr.  Lowe  was  quite  right  in  what  he  actually  said,  for  as 
he  used  the  English  word  he  might  fairly  argue  that  there  is  nothing 
in  France  answering  to  the  English  conception  of  a  university.  But 
Mr.  Lowe  was  far  from  being  so  near  the  truth  in  what  he  thought, 
and  in  what  he  conveyed  to  his  audience,  which  was  that  the  French 
in  saying  that  they  had  an  "  university  "  advanced  claims  that  could 
not  be  supported.  The  word  in  the  English  sense  means  a  large 
group  of  magnificent  colleges  and  halls,  with  beautiful  gardens,  libra- 
ries, museums,  and  immense  wealth  to  sustain  them,  clustered  to- 
gether in  or  about  some  quiet  rural  town,  and  frequented  by  young 
men  who  have  finished  their  school-days,  and  pursue,  or  are  supposed 


14        INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE. 

to  pursue  the  highest  studies  with  the  help  of  the  most  cultivated 
teachers  in  the  country.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  there  is  nothing  of 
this  kind  in  France.  The  word  in  the  French  sense  means  a  vast 
universal  system  of  public  instruction,  with  great  cheap  public  schools 
scattered  all  over  the  land,  but  all  pursuing  the  same  methods,  and 
a  number  of  faculties  for  examination  in  some  of  the  principal  towns, 
the  whole  organization  governed  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 
There  is  nothing  of  this  kind  in  England,  and  a  Frenchman  might 
say  with  truth,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Lowe  :  "  II  n'y  a  pas  d'universite"  en 
Angleterre."  At  the  same  time,  and  for  the  same  reason,  the  word 
"professor"  has  not  the  same  sense  in  its  English  and  French  forms. 
A  "  Professor  "  in  England  means  a  distinguished  scholar  who  has 
accepted  a  highly  honorable  position  in  one  of  the  universities,  where 
he  gives  some  of  the  results  of  his  scholarship  to  an  audience  pre- 
pared to  receive  them.  "  Un  professeur"  means  a  wretchedly  paid 
teacher  in  a  cheap  school,  who  lives  in  mortal  dread  of  a  superior 
officer  in  the  same  building,  and  who  has,  generally  speaking,  no 
position  whatever  in  the  society  of  the  place  he  lives  in.  And 
now  we  see  the  difficulty  of  using  another  language  ;  for  if  we  say  of 
an  English  university  professor,  "//  est  dans  rtmiversite1,  il  est  pro- 
fesseur" we  convey  the  idea  that  he  holds  a  position  much  inferior  to 
that  of  an  usher  in  an  English  grammar-school  ;  and  yet  we  are  not 
speaking  a  language  supposed  to  be  generally  unintelligble,  we  are 
not  speaking  the  language  of  some  tribe  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  we 
are  speaking  French,  which  is  said  to  be  the  universal  medium  of 
communication  for  cultivated  people  all  over  the  civilized  world. 

While  fully  admitting  the  importance  of  this  difficulty,  we  may, 
however,  observe  that  the  tendency  of  modern  life  is  to  place  things 
more  and  more  at  the  disposal  of  people  in  different  countries,  so 
that  if  one  country  has  any  decidedly  good  thing,  the  others  are 
pretty  sure  to  adopt  it  before  long.  A  language  may  be  truly  uni- 
versal when  the  things  it  speaks  of  are  universal.  The  words  "  sun," 
"moon,"  "stars,"  might  be  learned  every  where  with  their  exact 
meaning ;  the  word  "  baronet "  can  only  be  accurately  understood  by 
some  one  who  has  lived  in  English  society  and  seen  exactly  what 
the  title  is  worth.  Now  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  every 
year  makes  things  more  in  common  among  nations.  The  spread 
of  the  railway  system  is  one  of  the  most  obvious  instances  of  this ; 
but  there  are  many  others.  All  words  relating  to  railways  would  be 
really  and  truly  understood  by  people  in  different  countries;  and  so 
would  the  words  that  belonged  to  the  use  of  telegraphs.  Every  thing 


INTERNATIONAL    COMMUNICATION    BY    LANGUAGE.        15 

relating  to  science  would  be  clearly  understood  in  the  universal  lan- 
guage ;  and  as  it  is  said  that  the  •'  pencil  speaks  the  tongue  of  every 
land,"  so  the  universal  language  ought  to  be  generally  intelligible 
on  matters  connected  with  the  fine  arts,  at  least  to  those  to  whom 
the  fine  arts  themselves  are  intelligible.  War  and  commerce,  being 
international  affairs,  might  be  equally  well  understood  in  the  uni- 
versal language. 

Whatever  may  be  the  objections  and  the  difficulties,  the  firm  and 
decided  choice  of  some  language  for  international  communication 
would  assuredly  lead  to  a  more  endurable  condition  of  things  than 
the  present  state  of  international  dumbness  or  misunderstanding. 
Consider  the  wretched  business  which  is  called  traveling  in  these 
days.  People  set  off  for  foreign  countries,  and  when  they  get  there 
learn  no  more  about  the  inhabitants  than  just  what  may  be  seen  with 
the  bodily  eyes,  having  no  communication  with  the  minds  of  for- 
eigners. The  English  and  Americans  are  accomplished  masters  in 
the  art  of  getting  through  foreign  countries  with  the  least  risk  of 
contamination  from  contact  with  any  educated  natives.  Men  of 
culture  did  not  travel  so  in  Bruno's  time  ;  Montaigne  did  not  travel 
so ;  Milton  did  not  travel  so.  They  went  to  see  and  converse  with 
the  best  and  most  accomplished  men ;  the  modern  tourist  goes  to 
stare  at  a  big  mountain  from  the  window  of  a  big  hotel,  and  talks 
only  to  his  fellow-countrymen,  or  to  native  innkeepers  and  waiters 
who  know  his  own  language  better  than  he  knows  theirs.  Even  the 
men  of  culture  in  the  present  day  are  much  more  isolated  than  Mil- 
ton and  Bruno  were,  and  too  frequently  find  themselves  compelled 
to  travel  in  the  ordinary  tourist  fashion,  seeing  Switzerland,  but  not 
the  Swiss  ;  Italy,  but  not  the  Italians  ;  if  indeed  Switzerland  and 
Italy  are  any  thing  but  so  much  physical  geography  unless  you  know 
the  people  who  give  them  life. 


THE    REFORM    IN    HIGHER 
EDUCATION. 

THE  graduate  of  the  highest  school  for  general  culture,  in  the 
United  States,  strong  at  home  in  the  possession  of  his  college 
diploma,  finds  that  precious  document  almost  a  matter  of  ridicule 
among  teachers  and  students  in  a  German  university.  He  finds,  to 
his  astonishment,  that  few  educated  Germans  have  ever  heard  of  his 
alma  mater.  He  begins  with  violently  defending  her  honor  as  being 
also  a  university ;  he  is  met  with  contemptuous  or  patronizing 
smiles.  At  last  he  comes,  with  much  reluctance,  to  the  knowledge 
that  the  graduate  of  the  Gymnasium,  or  German  preparatory  school, 
who  is  sitting  by  him  in  the  lecture-room,  and  who  is,  probably, 
just  about  as  old  as  he  was  at  the  time  he  entered  college,  is 
sounder,  on  almost  every  point,  than  himself;  perhaps  he  has  not 
read  quite  as  much  Latin  and  Greek  in  quantity,  but  he  has  learned 
Latin  and  Greek  in  a  way  our  graduate  has  only  dreamed  of,  in 
those  delusive  moments  at  the  beginning  of  a  term,  when  he  hoped 
for  inspiration  and  help,  from  his  teachers,  and  found  neither.  The 
ex-gymnasiast  has  been  obliged,  every  day  since  he  was  ten  years 
old,  to  write  his  Latin  exercise,  and  for  his  final  examination  has 
had  a  Latin  dissertation  to  prepare.  Our  graduate,  has  had,  per- 
haps, an  hour  or  two  a  week  for  a  few  terms,  an  exercise  in  Latin 
composition,  dreaded  by  teacher  and  scholar  alike. 

He  climbs  his  three  flights  of  stairs,  after  the  conversation  with 
his  German  neighbor,  in  a  reflecting  mood.  Indeed  it  is  a  little 
startling.  He  has  had  the  best  his  country  afforded.  At  home, 
he  can  not  go  higher,  and  here  is  a  man,  starting  now,  ahead  of  him, 
with  three  or  four  years  of  discipline  to  go  through  before  he 
can  dare  claim  the  privilege  of  being  submitted  to  the  searching 


THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION.  17 

examination  which  is  the  condition  of  his  being  allowed  to  teach, 
or  take  any  share  in  the  intellectual  labor  of  his  country.  Yet  our 
graduate  was,  at  home,  "  fit  to  be  a  teacher,"  could  have  begun 
the  work  with  its  impossibility  of  further  development,  and  con- 
tinued, to  the  end  of  his  days,  a  highly  respected  instructor  without 
dreaming  of  his  incompetence.  But  his  eyes  have  been  thus  rudely 
opened  ;  he  suffers  a  while  from  attacks  of  despair,  then  sees  where 
the  fault  lay,  in  the  false  methods  of  his  education,  and  sets  himself  to 
remedy  it.  It  is  of  small  comfort  to  him  to  reflect  that  the  gymna- 
siast  has  never  seen  a  boat-race,  nor  caught  a  ball  ;  that  he  wears  bad 
linen,  and  has  absolutely  no  taste  in  neckties ;  that  he  eats  with  his 
knife,  and  does  not  know  how  to  behave  himself  in  company  ;  that,  in 
all  common  ways  of  life,  he  is  incorrigibly  "  green,"  in  short,  that  his- 
books  have  taken  out  of  him  pretty  much  all  the  humanity  he  ever 
had.  The  dismal  fact  remains,  that  this  fellow  has  been  better  trained 
than  himself  in  all  those  respects  for  which  systems  of  education  are 
made.  That  the  graduate  would  rather  be  almost  anybody  rather 
than  this  machine  of  a  man,  does  not  help  away  the  fact  that  it  is  a 
remarkably  good  machine  for  doing  the  very  things  our  young  citizen 
has  set  before  himself  for  his  life-work.  Nor  does  it  do  for  him  to 
say  he  is  good  enough  for  America.  He  sees,  clearly  enough,  that 
there  is  a  something  in  this  training,  which  works,  and  spreads,  and 
will,  unless  he  is  careful,  take  the  ground  away  from  under  his  feet. 

These  are  the  patent  results  which  stare  us  in  the  face  as  we 
compare  the  two  systems.  Let  us  examine  the  causes  of  the  differ- 
ence and  how  we  are  to  do  away  with  it.  We  have  already  hinted 
at  the  first  cause,  the  absence  of  prepared  teachers.  Let  any  one 
honestly  look  back  over  the  period  of  his  school  and  college  life,  and 
count  the  teachers  who  have  been  more  help  than  hindrance  to  him  ;. 
who  have  really,  out  of  their  own  knowledge  of  a  subject  or  of  the 
best  methods  of  studying  it,  done  more  for  him  than  he  could  have 
done  for  himself  with  the  help  of  the  text-books.  He  will  find  the 
•fingers  of  one  hand  sufficient  for  the  calculation.  Yet  it  is  unques- 
tionably true  that  our  public  schools  and  colleges  have  the  best  teach- 
ing material  there  is.  It  consists  largely  of  men  of  inferior  training,, 
who  have  begun  to  teach  because  they  could  not  afford  to  study 
further  after  leaving  college,  and  having  once  begun,  continue  on  by 
the  force  of  inertia.  The  first-rate  men  go  into  professions  where  a 
wider  field  for  ambition  and  enterprise  is  opened  to  them,  leaving 
this  most  important  of  callings  in  the  hands  of  men,  who,  tried  by  the 
highest  standards,  are,  as  a  class,  wanting.  Not  every  man  who  knows 


18  THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION. 

the  Latin  grammar  by  heart,  and  has  read  the  usual  quantum  of 
authors,  is  fit  to  teach  Latin,  even  to  lower  pupils.  Perhaps  it  has 
never  dawned  upon  him  that  there  is  a  great  science  called  Philology 
of  which  he  has  been  studying  a  certain  small  part,  and  into  which  it 
is  his  duty  to  lead  others.  He  has,  himself,  had  no  training  in  these 
broad  points  of  view,  and  why  should  he  see  the  need  of  it  for  others  ? 
How  many  college  students  have  been  taught  that  this  science  of 
philology  has  become  the  mightiest  lever  of  modern  research  into  the 
history  of  the  past  ?  The  inspiration  which  comes  from  contact  with 
men  capable  of  directing  them  to  such  points  of  view,  is  wanting  to 
our  students.  They  grope  in  the  dark,  from  week  to  week,  laying  many 
pages  of  books  behind  them,  but  getting  no  farther  into  the  depths  of 
their  subject,  receiving  no  impulse  to  independent  study,  finding  no 
new  ways  opened  to  them,  and  are  disgusted  at  the  end.  We  recall 
our  reading  of  Greek  plays  under  the  amiable  gentleman  who  stands, 
perhaps,  as  high  in  his  profession  as  any  one  in  America.  It  was  so 
many  lines  of  Greek  dramas  daily,  but  seldom  a  word  about  the  drama 
itself,  of  its  place  in  the  intellectual  activity  of  that  marvellous  age, 
of  its  development,  of  the  lives  of  the  dramatists,  of  the  thousand  rela- 
tions which  should  have  formed  the  subject  of  a  course  of  lectures,  of 
which  the  reading  of  the  plays  should  have  been  the  illustration.  And 
this  was  the  highest  instruction  attainable  in  America  at  that  day. 

The  community  in  general  little  knows  how  bad  the  teaching  in 
our  higher  schools  is.  Only  comparisons  can  make  it  plain,  and  this 
is  not  an  exaggerated  one.  The  head  professor  in  one  of  the  princi- 
pal departments  in  one  of  our  very  highest  colleges,  enjoys  the  repu- 
tation of  a  finished  scholar,  and,  except  among  his  students,  of  a  suc- 
cessful teacher.  The  unfortunates  who  have  sat  before  him  a  term 
or  so,  have  learned  how  false  his  position  is.  They  have  come  to  him 
with  enthusiasm,  hoping  for  encouragement  and  help,  and  to  profit 
by  contact  with  a  man  of  learning  who  will  open  up  to  them  points  of 
view  they  could  not  reach  of  themselves,  who  would  show  them  the 
meaning  of  their  study,  its  place  among  other  studies,  its  history,  its 
bearing  on  the  progress  of  science.  These  were  their  reasonable 
anticipations,  and  in  return,  they  were  more  than  willing  to  do  their 
part,  by  learning  from  day  to  day,  such  portions  of  the  book  studied  as 
should  serve  for  the  text  of  what  the  professor  would  give  them. 
They  have  been  disappointed.  They  have  found  in  the  far-famed 
teacher  a  petty  tyrant,  whose  sole  apparent  object  is  to  trip  a  student 
who  has  not  prepared  his  "  lesson,"  who  goes  long  ways  around  to 
make  a  scholar  ridiculous  before  his  mates,  but  if  any  one  asks  a 


THE  REFORM  IN  HIGHER  EDUCATION.      19 

question,  extinguishes  him  as  effectually  as  possible.  What  atten- 
tion he  can  spare  from  these  amiable  occupations,  is  concentrated  on 
a  sheet  of  paper  lying  on  his  desk,  upon  which  the  comparative  stand 
ing  of  his  students,  indeed,  in  many  cases,  their  collegiate  existence, 
depends.  The  insulted  student  must  see  this  go  on  for  many  days 
and  weeks.  He  feels  that  there  is  something  altogether  wrong  in  it 
all,  but  he  has  not  had  our  opportunities  of  forming  comparisons,  and 
he  knows  it  is  the  best  there  is  to  be  had. 

Let  us  look  at  the  other  side.  Professor  Curtius,  in  Leipzig, 
lectures,  in  a  given  semester,  four  times  a  week,  on  abstract  Greek 
grammar,  to  an  audience  of  from  three  to  four  hundred  students.  These 
are  under  no  obligation  to  come  to  him ;  neither  he  nor  any  officer 
of  the  university  knows  who  is  present  or  absent.  The  professor  has 
no  charm  of  oratory  to  attract  hearers,  but  sits  quietly  at  his  desk,  or 
occasionally  writes  upon  the  black-board,  and  never  departs  from  the 
simple,  and  to  the  uninitiated,  intolerably  dry,  narrative  of  the  history 
and  development  of  this  or  that  root  or  ending.  He  has  no  connec- 
tion with  his  individual  hearers,  nothing  to  withdraw  his  attention 
from  that  absorbing  subject  which  has  been  the  study  of  his  life. 
The  visitor  to  his  auditorium  at  the  close  of  the  term,  finds  the  three 
hundred  students  still  in  their  places,  and  is  the  only  man  in  the  room 
who  is  not  writing  as  if  his  life  depended  on  it.  What  is  the  force 
which  has  held  these  men  together  ?  Simply  the  sense  of  power 
which  comes  from  contact  with  a  man  capable  of  giving  all  one  seeks 
and  having  always  a  reserve  fund.  The  changes  and  developments 
of  a  Greek  root  become,  in  Curtius'  hand,  living  movements,  bearing 
upon  the  nature  and  history  of  the  people.  Every  line  of  explana- 
tion opens,  to  the  student's  mind,  new  possibilities  and  new  interests. 
We  have  drawn  this  comparison  because  the  positions  of  the  two 
men  are  precisely  analogous.  There  is  absolutely  no  condition  for 
the  one  which  does  not  hold  true  for  the  other.  The  same  demands 
are  made  upon  our  professor,  as  upon  the  German  one,  but  his  pupils, 
already,  be  it  understood,  as  old  as  their  German  cousins,  must  needs 
wait  four  unsatisfied  years,  and  then  go  over  to  sit  upon  Curtius' 
benches,  and  receive  what  they  ought  to  have  had  given  them  at  home. 

Nor  does  the  evil  end  with  the  head  of  the  department ;  it  spreads 
down  to  the  young  tutor,  himself  fresh  from  college,  with  no  time 
for  widening  his  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  or  making  himself, 
in  any  special  manner,  ready  for  his  work.  The  remedy  must 
come  by  filling  the  ranks  of  teachers  with  men  whose  eyes  have  been 
opened  by  some  such  unpleasant  comparison  as  we  have  just  made 


20      THE  REFORM  IN  HIGHER  EDUCATION. 

The  process  must,  of  course,  be  a  gradual  one,  and  in  the  direction 
from  demand  to  supply,  not  in  the  reverse.  The  practical  question 
of  the  hour  is,  therefore,  how  to  create  the  demand  which  shall  force 
the  supply  to  show  itself,  for  we  have  not  drawn  dark  pictures  to  give 
an  idea  that  there  is  not  a  bright  side  to  them.  We  have  endless 
faith  in  the  results  of  the  new  methods,  and  await  the  dawning  of  a 
new  light,  that  shall  send  back  its  rays  to  warm  and  inspire  the  older 
systems  from  which  we  now  must  draw  the  materials  for  the  flame. 

Let  us  consider  the  present  position  of  a  college  instructor,  a  little 
more  closely,  what  the  demands  actually  made  upon  him  are,  and  how 
the  doing  away  with  some  of  these,  and  the  substitution  of  others, 
would  force  him  into  a  position  so  different  that  he  would  necessarily 
become  another  sort  of  man.  These  demands,  which  determine  the 
position,  an^l  limit  the  working  capacity,  of  the  instructor,  are  so 
closely  connected  with  each  other  that  they  must  stand  or  fall 
together.  Most  of  them  arise  out  of  the  relation  of  the  student  to 
his  college,  at  which  we  therefore  first  look. 

The  student,  entering  college  from  the  school  where  he  has  been 
nobody  but  Smith,  is  informed,  with  more  or  less  ceremony,  that  he 
has  now  become  a  man  and  will  be  treated  as  such.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  this  promise,  which  he  accepts  in  good  faith,  is 
systematically  broken  from  that  day  on.  It  was  only  a  harmless 
joke  of  the  faculty.  He  is  called  Mr.  Smith,  by  his  teachers,  and  in 
case  he  is  arraigned  for  any  particularly  boyish  freak,  is  informed  that 
such  conduct  is  unworthy  his  position  as  a  man,  but  with  these  ex- 
ceptions he  might  as  well  never  have  been  told  he  was  grown  up,  for 
all  the  evidence  he  has  of  it.  On  the  contrary,  he  finds  the  supposi- 
tion, at  every  turn,  that  he  is  still  a  child,  and  requires — always,  of 
course,  for  his  own  good — to  be  hedged  in  with  rules  and  regulations, 
none  the  less  degrading  and  annoying  because  their  working  is  distant 
and  silent.  He  finds  himself  subjected  to  a  complicated  code  of  laws 
and  penalties,  in  which  moral  and  mental  transgressions  are  mingled 
into  a  jumble  which  it  would  be  the  despair  of  any  jurist  to  explain. 
If  he  basely  stays  away  from  morning  prayers,  his  standing  suffers 
just  as  much  as  if  he  had  committed  the  intellectual  enormity  of  pre- 
ferring to  learn  ten  pages  of  the  text-book  at  once,  instead  of  five 
to-day  and  five  to-morrow.  If  he  is  unwell,  and  stays  away  from 
recitation,  he  must  not  only  explain  himself,  even  to  telling  what  was 
the  matter,  but  must  produce  the  testimony  of  some  one  else  to  prove 
he  is  not,  as  it  is  presupposed  would  be  the  case,  telling  a  lie  about  it. 
If  he  does  not  choose  to  attend  church,  he  must  be  exempted  at  the 


THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION.  21 

request  of  his  parents  or  suffer  the  severest  penalties.  He  is  watched 
in  his  movements  about  the  grounds,  and  in  his  own  dormitory. 
In  place  of  the  ruder  discipline  of  the  school,  where  the  teacher's 
voice  or  hand  was  always  ready  to  keep  him  in  a  proper  sense  of  his 
own  youthfulness,  rrc  has  become  the  victim  of  a  system  none  the 
less  grinding  because  it  works  without  noise  and  makes  itself  felt  by 
penalties  which  touch  only  his  sense  of  manhood.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  student,  thus  constantly  reminded  of  his  boy- 
ishness, gives  up  his  innocent  determination  to  accept  the  responsi- 
bilities of  being  a  man,  and  accommodates  himself  to  the  miserable 
presumption  that  he  is  only  an  older  sort  of  boy.  But  of  the  evil 
effect  upon  the  student  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak.  Some  day 
or  other  the  long-delayed  responsibility  will  come,  for  him,  and  bring 
its  elevating  influence.  Still  worse  is  the  effect  of  this  attitude  of 
the  student  upon  the  instructor.  Every  belittling  of  the  former, 
belittles  him,  in  the  process,  and  the  opportunity  of  correcting  the 
tendency  never  comes.  This  is  the  real  kernel  of  the  matter:  the 
teacher  in  Germany  is  there  to  teach  ;  the  teacher  in  America  is  there 
to  do  almost  everything  but  teach.  Let  any  one  imagine  the  disgust 
of  the  youngest  German  tutor,  if  his  university  should  demand  of  him 
even  to  keep  a  list  of  his  hearers  and  mark  their  attendance.  His 
answer  would  be  of  the  clearest  description,  that  such  matters  were 
the  business  of  a  janitor,  not  of  an  instructor.  His  business  is  to  spend 
his  days  and  nights  on  that  course  of  four  lectures  a  week  which  is  to 
prove  or  disprove  his  ability  to  fill,  some  day,  the  higher  places  of  his 
department.  He  has  no  time  for  playing  policeman.  The  other  side 
of  the  picture  should  make  thoughtful  Americans  blush.  In  one 
of  our  colleges  which  is  most  free  from  this  degrading  espionage,  and 
where  the  tone  is  steadily  toward  higher  views  of  the  objects  of 
education,  we  have  known  of  tutors  being  posted  behind  trees  in  the 
grounds  to  give  chase  to  the  expected  rioters,  on  a  certain  night, 
and  if  need  be  to  come  to  close  quarters  with  them.  At  the  same 
college  we  know  that  another  tutor,  not  more  than  three  or  four  years 
ago,  sprang  upon  a  student,  who  was  singing  in  the  yard  at  night, 
and  tried  to  throw  him  to  the  ground  in  order  to  recognize  him. 
And  these  men  were  called  teachers,  had  their  regular  classes  every 
day,  and  gave  large  numbers  of  students  their  impressions  of  what 
college  work  meant.  When  the  system  of  elective  studies  was  intro- 
duced, that  first  dawning  of  better  things,  nothing  was  more  common 
than  for  students  to  choose  such  branches  as  would  give  them  the  best 
opportunities  to  gain  rank.  The  reputation  of  the  teachers  was  not 


22  THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION. 

for  anything  one  might  learn  from  them,  but  for  fairness  or  unfairness 
in  ranking.  The  main  object  in  study  was  not  to  learn  ;  that  might 
come  if  it  would  ;  the  first  aim  was  to  make  such  an  appearance  in  the 
recitation-room  as  would  force  the  instructor  to  put  a  high  mark 
against  one's  name.  The  whole  working  of  the  class,  tended  toward 
the  publication  of  the  rank-list,  and  never  a  term  went  by  without  a 
conspiracy  among  the  students  to  capture  that  document  before  the 
day  of  issue.  It  would  seem  to  require  but  a  moment's  reflection  to 
show  any  one  how  these  demands  of  discipline  and  ranking  overcame 
at  the  outset,  the  capacity  of  any  teacher  for  effectual  work.  Before 
long  these  assume  for  him  the  place  of  the  real  objects  of  his  life.  In 
,the  recitation-room,  his  mind  is  fixed  upon  that  fatal  paper  before  him. 
While  the  student  is  reciting,  instead  of  watching  to  help  him,  and  the 
rest,  to  amplify  and  explain,  in  one  word,  to  teach,  he  is  balancing 
wl>ether  this  be  a  slip  of  the  tongue,  or  a  want  of  knowledge,  whether 
this  recitation  be  a  shade  worse  or  better  than  that  of  a  rival  stu- 
dent, whether  he  himself  may  not,  by  an  involuntary  injustice,  lose 
popularity,  and  perhaps  injure  the  prospects  of  one  of  his  scholars 
for  some  college  honor.  On  the  one  side,  he  is  cramped  by  his  duty 
to  his  employers  of  presenting  that  sheet  of  paper,  filled  out  in  due 
form,  at  the  end  of  the  term  ;  on  the  other,  by  his  wish  to  maintain 
pleasant  relations  with  the  students.  It  is  impossible  for  any  man  to 
fill  such  a  place  with  justice  to  himself,  and  to  the  high  calling  he  has 
chosen.  Either  he  does  what  the  most  do,  becomes  a  recitation-hear- 
ing,  and  marking,  machine,  or  gets  disgusted  with  the  whole  thing  and 
throws  it  up  for  some  profession  where  he  may,  at  least,  be  his  own  man. 
The  reform  we  would  urge,  therefore,  would  be  the  absolute 
doing  away  with,  of  these  worse  than  useless  trammels  between 
teachers  and  taught,  leaving  each  free,  either  to  assert  his  position,  or 
to  abandon  it.  This  is  the  case  in  the  German  universities  ;  and  that 
such  freedom  is  also  capable  of  being  abused  we  shall  hope  later  to 
show.  The  changes  we  advocate  would  be  all  in  the  direction  of 
setting  the  student  on  the  footing  of  a  free  man,  with  that  most 
powerful  of  motives,  which  every  man  feels  when  he  knows  that  to 
himself  alone  is  he  responsible  for  success  or  failure.  And  of  these 
changes,  the  first,  should  be  the  abolition  of  marks  and  ranking.  The 
honest  supporters  of  the  system  have  but  one  advantage  to  claim  for 
it,  that  of  inducing  students  to  work  who  would  otherwise  waste  their 
time.  On  any  other  ground  it  would  be  utterly  unjustifiable,  and  we 
believe  it  to  be  equally  so,  on  this.  This  much  is  certain,  it  is  an 
appeal  to  lower  aims.  It  presumes  that  study  in  itself,  can  not  be 


THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION.  23 

made  attractive  enough  to  supply  the  student  with  that  impulse 
from  without,  which  it  would  be  absurd  to  deny,  every  student  and 
every  man  needs.  The  question  is,  whence  that  impulse  shall  come. 
There  are  two  answers :  by  degrading  the  student,  or  by  raising  the 
teacher.  Up  to  this  time,  the  former  plan  has  been  followed  ;  it  is 
time  the  other  had  its  turn.  The  student  has  been  treated  as  a  child, 
incapable  of  comprehending  the  ends  for  which  he  works,  and  the 
quality  of  his  teachers  has  corresponded  to  this  low  estimate  of  their 
position.  The  rank-list  is  the  refuge  of  incompetence.  Teachers 
are  able  to  maintain  themselves  with  it,  who  could  not  keep  their 
places  a  day  if  they  were  thrown  upon  their  own  resources,  to  interest 
and  encourage  their  pupils.  So  teachers  cling  to  the  system  as  to  an 
anchor  of  safety,  and  those— for  we  have  such — who  are  capable  of 
supplying,  from  their  own  learning  and  character,  the  required  stim- 
ulus, find  themselves  hampered  and  cramped  at  every  turn. 

We  are  told  that  this  system  of  university  freedom  may  do  for 
Germans,  but  would  never  work  in  America.  Such  a  lame  defense 
can  only  come  from  those  who  have  never  made  comparisons.  No 
German  student  can  begin  to  have  that  motive  to  energy  which  our 
young  Americans  have.  The  visions  of  advance,  of  position,  of 
influence,  which  fill  the  mind  of  every  American,  are  unknown  to  the 
German.  Let  our  young  men  learn  that  power,  and  place,  are  the 
rewards  of  thorough  preparation,  as  in  the  end  they  are,  and  a  mo- 
tive is  there,  than  which  none  can  be  more  powerful.  We  have 
heard  from  German  professors,  that  Americans  are  among  their  best 
students,  from  the  energy  with  which  they  take  hold  of  their  work. 
It  is  simply  because  the  young  American  matriculated  at  a  German 
university,  finds,  for  the  first  time,  that  the  presumption  of  manhood 
is  not  only  made,  but  carried  out  with  alarming  consistency.  The 
appeal  to  himself,  which  ought  to  have  been  made  four  years  before, 
at  the  beginning  of  his  college  career,  comes  to  him  now  with  irre- 
sistible force,  and  sweeps  him  on  to  effort  and  success.  Our  students 
at  home  have  never  been  allowed  to  try  what  they  can  do.  Let  any 
one  look  back  at  his  college-days,  and  say  which  instructors  held  the 
interest  and  respect  of  their  students  most  firmly ;  always  those  who 
made  the  least  talk  about  marks  and  discipline,  who  could  afford  to  do 
away  with  these  artificial  aids.  By  keen  instinct,  the  student  knew 
his  superiors,  and  let  himself  willingly  be  led  by  them.  This  putting 
the  student  and  teacher  on  their  own  responsibility,  is  the  character- 
istic of  the  German  method.  It  is  so  simple  as  to  be  almost  startling. 
It  makes  the  teacher  depend  for  his  existence,  as  a  teacher,  upon  his 


24  THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION. 

success  in  the  lecture-room.  If  he  can  offer  anything  which  any  one 
is  willing  to  hear  and  pay  for,  he  may  keep  on  lecturing ;  if  not,  he 
may  stop.  That  is  the  whole  story.  On  the  other  side  it  is  equally 
simple ;  if  the  student  chooses  to  do  good  work,  he  finds  the  first 
minds  of  his  country  waiting  to  help  him.  If  he  be  in  earnest,  he 
draws  from  daily  contact  with  such  men  inspiration  for  his  own  work, 
and  when  he  can  prove  that  he  has  earned  it,  he  receives  the  certifi- 
cate of  his  diligence ;  if  all  this  has  not  been  worth  working  for,  he 
simply  drops  out  of  the  lists,  and  nobody  knows  it.  It  is  false  that 
the  American  student  is  not  ready  to  put  himself  under  the  influence 
of  these  same  jnotives.  It  is  the  teachers  who  dread  it,  as  revolu- 
tionizing their  position,  and  compelling  them  to  exertions  for  which 
they  have  perhaps  lost  both  inclination  and  ability.  We  are  aware 
that  this  subject  has  been  already  discussed  ad  nauseam  under  the 
name  of  "  recitations  or  lectures,"  but  this  phase  of  it  must  of  neces- 
sity change  with  the  abolition  of  ranking.  Recitations  have  been 
seriously  defended  as  a  means  for  determining  the  relative  position 
of  students,  as  if  this  were  an  object  worth  the  sacrifice  of  their  best 
time  and  energy.  With  the  doing  away  of  ranking,  the  recitation,  as 
a  means  to  this  end,  falls  of  itself,  and  assumes  its  legitimate  place, 
with  the  text-book,  as  the  basis  of  the  instructor's  activity.  With 
these  new  demands  would  come  a  new  class  of  men  to  answer  them, 
men  trained  in  the  methods  of  study,  who  would  not  view  teaching 
as  a  respectable  and  profitable  way  of  tiding  over  the  first  few  years 
after  college,  but  who  would  devote  themselves  to  it  as  their  life-work. 
These  would  be  the  demands  which  should  take  the  place  of  those 
others,  whose  abolition  we  have  been  urging.  The  practical  order  of 
reform  must  be,  from  the  doing  away  of  ranking,  toward  the  lecture 
system ;  the  reverse  effort,  as  it  has  been  thus  far  attempted,  must 
prove  futile,  because  it  fails  to  strike  the  root  of  the  trouble.  First 
set  the  student  on  the  footing  of  a  responsible  man,  and  you  have 
given  him  the  motive  which  makes  all  further  steps  possible.  So 
long  as  you  insist  upon  his  being  a  child,  so  long  he  will  remain  so ; 
and  if  he  enjoys  the  irresponsibility,  and  keeps  along  just  within  the 
bounds  of  what  is  demanded  of  him,  as  every  child  does,  it  is  not  his 
fault,  but  that  of  the  false  methods  which  have  forced  him  to  it. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  relative  position  of  teachers  and  taught 
in  our  American  colleges,  and  of  the  necessity  that  these  relations 
should  be,  in  their  very  nature,  changed  by  setting  aside  whatever 
barriers  stand  in  the  way  of  the  greatest  freedom  of  action  on  both 
sides.  As  the  first  of  these  hindrances  to  be  removed,  we  designated 


THE  REFORM  IN  HIGHER  EDUCATION.      25 

the  system  of  marks,  and  ranking,  as  failing  in  its  purpose  of  encour- 
aging the  student,  and  as  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  free 
activity  of  the  instructor. 

A  second  change,  of  scarcely  less  importance,  would  be  to  make 
attendance  at  all  college  exercises  free  to  the  student  without  giving 
account  of  himself.  The  same  reasons  hold  for  this  as  for  the  pre- 
vious step  in  the  reform.  The  rules  for  attendance  are  designed 
for  the  student's  good,  to  insure  his  not  losing  any  of  the  good  things 
with  which  his  visits  to  the  recitation-room  are  supposed  to  supply 
him.  As  with  the  ranking,  so  here,  his  lower  nature  is  appealed  to. 
If  he  stays  away  from  recitation,  the  result  held  up  before  him  is  not 
loss  of  time  or  knowledge,  but  loss  of  credit  among  his  fellows.  If 
he  knows  he  can  do  more  for  himself  in  that  hour,  by  working  at  his 
books,  than  by  listening  to  the  stumbling  comments  of  his  neighbors, 
and  watching  the  dexterity  of  the  "  teacher  "  in  catching  them  nap- 
ping, no  matter ;  he  must  appear  in  his  place  or  be  set  down  as  a 
hardened  criminal.  Strange  that  it  never  occurs  to  the  wise  ones  to 
begin  at  the  other  end,  to  make  those  hours  in  the  recitation-room 
so  useful  to  him,  that  he  will  see  his  own  profit  in  being  always  on 
hand.  We  have  seen  German  students  going,  day  after  day,  to  a 
professor  whose  manner  of  delivery  was  so  bad  that  one  had  to  com- 
pel oneself  to  endure  it,  and  that  on  a  subject  upon  which  not  one  in 
twenty  would  ever  be  examined.  In  spite  of  these  unattractive  man- 
ners, they  knew  that  at  every  lecture  they  were  sure  to  learn  some- 
thing new  and  valuable  from  him,  and  no  motive  could  be  stronger 
to  insure  their  attendance.  Instead  of  professors  giving,  outside  of 
college  hours,  "  popular "  lectures  to  the  students,  would  it  not  be 
better  worth  the  while  to  think  of  making  all  college  exercises  popu- 
lar, in  a  higher  meaning  of  that  word  ?  It  will,  of  course,  be  said  that 
our  American  students  would  never  attend  lectures  without  compul- 
sion, and  indeed  we  confess  that  the  sudden  abolition  of  the  rules  for 
attendance  would  probably  produce  some  very  queer  results.  Some 
excellent  instructors  who,  by  the  help  of  rank-list  and  compulsion,  had 
deceived  themselves  for  years  into  the  fancy  that  they  were  doing 
highly  respectable  work,  would  find  themselves,  some  fine  morning, 
before  empty  benches,  while  struggling  tutors,  trained  in  the  methods 
of  real  work,  would  have  to  enlarge  their  boundaries.  Here,  again,  it 
is  not  a  question  whether  a  motive  be  necessary ;  no  man  enjoys  at- 
tending a  recitation  or  lecture  for  the  mere  form  of  the  thing.  The 
question  is  which  motive  shall  be  applied,  and  again  the  answer  is, 
either  degradation  of  the  student,  or  elevation  of  the  teacher.  It 


26      THE  REFORM  IN  HIGHER  EDUCATION. 

is  time  that  the  easier  plan  be  discarded  and  the  more  difficult 
one  carried  into  effect.  The  argument  that  American  students  are 
either  too  careless,  or  too  stupid,  to  know  when  a  good  thing  is  offered 
them,  we  leave  unnoticed,  calling  attention  only  to  the  experiment 
now  being  tried  in  an  institution  whose  lead  is  fairly  sure  of  being 
followed  at  a  greater  or  less  distance  by  all  the  rest.  Certainly  the 
least  zealous  student  would  only  need  to  know  that  his  examination 
for  promotion  depends  upon  what  he  will  learn  in  the  lecture-room  to 
insure  his  attendance  more  securely  than  any  rules  can  do  it.  But 
then  this  examination  must  be  in  the  hands  of  some  other  person 
than  the  instructor,  lest  he  substitute  some  line  of  comment  of  his 
own  for  a  thorough  discipline  in  the  subject. 

A  real  danger  is  that  instructors  may  be  induced  to  attempt,  by 
showy  oratory,  to  attract  hearers.  In  Germany,  though  instructors 
of  this  sort  exist,  they  have  never  become  dangerous.  The  difference 
between  brilliant  speculation,  and  solid  learning,  is  one  which,  however 
much  it  may  blind  the  ignorant,  is  felt  and  acknowledged  by  the  real 
seeker  after  knowledge.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  how  this  matter 
works  in  a  German  university.  A  brilliant  speaker  upon  a  popular 
subject  draws  to  his  "  public  "  lectures  an  immense  audience  in  the 
largest  auditorium.  For  his  "  private"  course,  which  must  be  paid 
for,  he  chooses  himself  a  modest  lecture-room,  knowing  well  that  the 
workers  among  the  students  in  his  department  will  prefer  the  slow- 
going  old  "  Lorscher,"  who  will  fit  them  for  that  examination  which 
is  the  goal  of  their  academic  aims.  And  so  it  would  soon  be  with  us. 
The  matter  would  regulate  itself,  and  each  student,  feeling  his  fate  in 
his  own  hands,  would  be  his  own  best  monitor  to  diligence.  One 
other  objection  we  would  answer  here.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  in 
Germany,  that  a  student,  after  matriculation,  lets  himself  be  inscribed 
for  one  or  two  courses,  and  sees  nothing  more  of  professors  during  an 
indefinitely  long  residence.  We  shall  be  asked  if  we  propose  to  allow 
the  possibility  of  such  a  disgraceful  state  of  things  at  home.  Decid- 
edly not ;  this  is  the  point  where  the  university  should  say,  with  un- 
mistakable clearness,  "  we  offer  the  student  complete  freedom  in  his 
attendance  upon  college  exercises,  but  a  student,  in  the  true  meaning 
of  that  word,  he  must  remain."  Let  such  cases  of  reckless  indiffer- 
ence be  noticed,  and  let  there  be  but  one  swift  and  simple  penalty, 
expulsion.  If  the  student  will,  he  shall  have,  with  his  freedom,  every 
possible  direction  and  assistance  ;  if  not,  he  is  in  the  wrong  place,  and 
the  sooner  he  finds  another,  the  better  for  all  parties.  Decision  of 
this  sort  would  show  at  once  the  attitude  of  the  college,  and  a  class  of 


THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION.  27 

men,  such  as  the  decaying  German  "  Junkerthum  "  sends  to  the  Uni- 
versities, would  never  come  into  being.  Upon  the  question  of  the 
comparative  advantages  of  recitations,  and  lectures,  this  would  bring 
the  verdict  of  the  students,  in  a  very  distinct  manner,  to  the  front,  and 
not  exactly  as  most  persons  would  expect.  At  first  the  voice  would 
be  overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  lectures,  but  time  would  show,  as  it  is 
now  doing  in  Germany,  the  real  place  of  each.  It  sounds  strangely 
but  is  the  fact,  that  admission  to  the  so-called  "  Uebungen  "  exercises, 
the  nearest  approach  to  recitations  in  most  departments,  is  a  privilege 
eagerly  sought  for  and  only  granted  to  the  most  zealous  students. 
Men  find  the  necessity  of  a  more  intimate  contact  with  the  instructor, 
and  with  each  other,  than  lectures  can  give,  just  as  they  found  in  lec- 
tures more  of  such  contact  than  recitations,  conducted  in  the  ordinary 
manner,  can  give.  The  making  attendance  free,  with  the  consequent 
effort  to  make  it  more  of  a  privilege  than  an  obligation,  is  a  step  ren- 
dered safe  by  its  very  necessity,  and  we  wish  the  trial  already  men- 
tioned, the  removal  of  compulsion  in  the  senior  class  of  one  of  our 
great  colleges,  the  success  it  deserves. 

We  come  to  the  consideration  of  a  third  change,  lying,  it  is  true, 
so  far  in  the  future,  in  spite  of  its  crying  need,  that  it  may  seem  fool- 
ish to  agitate  it  now.  We  refer  to  the  intimate  relation  of  religion 
and  education  in  our  country.  How  intimate  this  relation  is,  may 
not  be  evident  at  first  glance,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  the  two  words  have 
been  almost  identical  in  their  meaning,  in  all  the  educational  efforts  we 
have  made.  By  the  side  of  the  other  partial  view  of  the  subject,  the 
"  practical,"  the  "  classical,"  the  "  business,"  the  "  American  "  educa- 
tion, we  have  had  much  to  hear  of  a  "  Christian  "  education.  As  if 
there  were  danger  in  our  day  and  land  of  any  one  receiving  a  heathen 
education !  The  wonder  of  all  foreigners,  is  our  religious  activity, 
and  the  extent  to  which  it  penetrates  every  department  of  our 
national  life.  In  no  other  civilized  nation,  not  even  in  those  where 
the  Catholic  Church  holds  sway,  is  there  anything  resembling  this 
peculiar  energy.  We  lament,  sometimes,  the  want  of  unity  in  our 
American  churches  ;  it  is  this  division  which  has  been  the  source  of 
their  life  and  power.  Men  have  devoted  themselves  to  this  or  that 
utterly  unimportant  dogma,  with  an  energy  which  the  cause  of  reli- 
gion in  itself  could  never  have  called  forth.  In  religion,  the  maxim 
has,  from  the  beginning,  been  reversed  ;  not  in  union,  but  in  divis- 
ion, has  always  been  the  strongest  and  most  powerful  element  of 
strength.  The  explanation  is  clear ;  the  religious  demands  of  men 
are  different.  What  one  finds  in  one  church,  another  finds  in  another, 


28  THE     REFORM      IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION. 

and  so  all  are  kept  in  an  activity  which  an  universal  church  would 
infallibly  destroy.  So  long  as  this  sectarianism  confines  itself  to  reli- 
gious affairs,  it  may  go  to  almost  any  extent  without  serious  injury. 
The  moment  it  leaves  the  domain  of  dogma,  and  asserts  itself  in  the 
common  affairs  of  life,  it  becomes  fatal  to  the  highest  progress.  Such 
a  transgression  of  its  limits,  has  sectarianism  committed  in  the  matter 
of  education.  We  have  spoken  of  the  unparalleled  display  of  individual 
liberality  and  energy  in  the  foundation  of  our  collegiate  system.  All 
honor  to  the  men  who  saw  so  far  into  the  future,  as  to  lay  their 
offerings  on  so  worthy  a  shrine ;  but  unfortunate  for  us  that  their 
vision  did  not  include  the  prospect  of  a  mighty  state  called  upon  to 
take  its  stand  by  other  states,  and  measure  its  forces  with  them. 
The  uncounted  millions  of  private  wealth  that  have  gone  into  our 
colleges,  have  been  given,  not  in  the  first  place  for  education,  but  for 
religion.  Undoubtedly  before  the  mind  of  the  donor  was  some  indis- 
tinct vision  of  science  as  a  means  of  elevating  his  country,  but  the 
near  and  controlling  motive  has  been,  especially  in  the  earlier  portion 
of  our  history,  the  cause  of  religion.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
The  founders  of  our  state  were  men  to  whom  the  welfare  of  their 
souls  was  the  all  important  object  of  their  life,  and  to  whom  intellect- 
ual progress  was  a  secondary  consideration.  The  end  of  education, 
as  of  everything  else,  was  the  glory  of  God,  and  whatever  seemed  to 
those  iron-hearted  men  to  interfere  with  a  right  perception  of  that 
aim,  no  matter  how  essential  a  part  of  education  it  might  be,  must 
fall  away.  Thank  heaven  for  the  Puritan  spirit,  and  that  what  was 
best  in  it — the  sacrifice  of  everything  to  gain  an  end — has  not  died  out 
from  among  us  ;  but  the  day  is  past  when  the  line  between  religion, 
and  education,  can  be  left  in  so  confused  a  state.  The  trammels 
which  this  peculiarity  of  our  nation  has  laid  upon  our  whole  higher 
education,  must  be  removed,  if  we  dare  hope  to  reach  the  highest, 
to  take  our  side  by  the  side  of  other  nations  in  this  field,  as  we  have 
already  surpassed  them  in  others.  The  rivalry  of  the  American 
churches,  has  been  the  life  of  the  American  church ;  the  rivalry  of 
education  will  be  the  death  of  education.  Indeed,  the  expression  is 
an  absurdity  ;  there  can  be  no  rivalry  of  education,  for  the  thing  itself 
is  one,  and  admits  of  no  division. 

Educated  men,  to  whom  the  question  where  they  shall  educate 
their  sons  is  simply  where  they  will  have  the  best  advantages  for 
study,  little  know  the  anxiety  of  the  uneducated  but  conscientious 
father,  when  the  same  question  comes  to  him  With  him  it  is  a 
question,  not  merely  of  intellectual,  but  also  of  moral  bearing.  He 


TKE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION.  29 

Knows  nothing  of  the  progress  which  this  or  that  college  has  been 
making,  nothing  of  the  men  who  are  the  controlling  powers  there ; 
what  impresses  him  vastly  more  is,  that  here  his  son  will  have  to 
attend  prayers  but  once  a  day,  there  twice ;  that  here  he  may  be 
allowed  to  attend  church  outside  the  college  grounds,  that  there  he 
must  hear  two  sermons  every  Sunday  from  a  clergyman  who  will  be 
sure  to  preach  the  same  dogmas  his  son  has  heard  all  his  days  in  the 
paternal  pew.  These  are  things  the  father  understands,  and,  inas- 
much as  the  welfare  of  his  son's  soul  is  more  important  than  that  of 
his  mind  he  decides  the  momentous  question  on  these  grounds. 
He  has  acted  honestly,  with  a  prayerful  desire  for  his  son's  highest 
welfare,  but  we  know  with  what  a  fatal  confusion  of  two  utterly  dis- 
tinct, almost  irreconcilable  principles.  This  is  the  process  which 
every  year  passes  in  the  minds  of  hundreds  of  parents,  and  so  the 
sectarian  schools  are  kept  filled,  and  the  evil  of  division  is  perpetuated. 
A  similar  logic  governs  most  of  the  bequests  which  are  made  in 
the  name  of  education.  A  successful  merchant  has  amassed  a  fortune, 
and,  when  he  has  no  further  use  for  it,  fancies  he  can  do  nothing  better 
than  apply  it  to  the  assistance  of  some  struggling  institution  of 
learning.  He  has  consulted  his  clergyman  on  the  subject,  and 
learned  that  it  is  a  place  where  attempts  are  being  made  to  give 
young  men  a  "  Christian  "  education.  Of  course  no  "  unchristian  " 
doctrines,  that  is,  none  differing  from  his  own,  will  be  taught  there. 
Or,  a  man  who  has  gotten  still  higher  up  into  the  millions,  thinks 
nothing  can  be  finer  than  to  found  some  new  school  with  his  name 
upon  it,  and  the  protecting  mantle  of  some  religious  sect  thrown 
about  it.  All  such  plans  sound  well,  and  it  seems  a  paradox  to 
assert  that  such  efforts  tend  rather  to  impede,  than  to  advance,  the 
cause  of  the  highest  education.  It  is,  however,  the  case.  They 
serve  to  spread  a  certain  sort  of  education  over  a  wider  field,  but  do 
not  lead  to  the  result  toward  which  all  our  reforms  should  be 
directed,  the  educating  of  our  schools  to  such  a  standard  that  the 
present  annual  migration  of  our  young  men  to  Europe  will  no  longer 
be  a  necessity.  While  these  new  institutions  are  springing  up  all 
about  us,  absorbing  in  the  first  necessary  expenses,  generally,  a  large 
percentage  of  their  capital,  the  older  colleges,  even  the  wealthiest  of 
them,  are  struggling  to  meet  their  current  expenses.  In  these  older 
colleges  are  already  on  hand  the  first  necessities,  buildings,  teachers, 
and  books,  and  up  to  a  certain  distant  point,  the  number  of  students 
could  be  increased  without  new  expenditures  in  these  directions. 
Then,  whatever  private  liberality  might  add,  could  be  devoted  to  such 


30  THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION. 

improvements  as  the  time  demands,  and  which  can  now  be  afforded 
by  none.  The  new  colleges  reach,  perhaps,  the  point  to  which  the 
older  ones  have  come,  and  then  all  stand  still  at  this  level  for  want 
of  the  concentration  of  forces  which  would  forward  the  whole  cause. 
It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  multiplying  of  schools  retards  the  progress 
of  the  higher  education.  Each  one  of  the  many,  feels  itself  cramped 
in  just  the  directions  in  which  it  should  have  unlimited  freedom.  We 
have  spoken  of  the  fact  that  our  best  men  are  attached  to  other 
spheres  of  labor,  and  the  ranks  of  our  teachers  filled  with  second- 
rate  material.  How  true  the  statement  is,  the  efforts  bear  witness, 
which  our  colleges  are  making,  to  draw  from  the  professions  men  of 
distinction,  to  take  the  place  of  teachers.  It  is  the  best  that  can  be 
done,  but  vastly  better  if  such  men  could  see  their  advantage  in 
beginning  in  their  youth  the  academic  career.  As  it  is,  one  may 
easily  fancy  what  a  mental  struggle  is  necessary,  in  our  country, 
before  a  young  man  of  ability  will  make  up  his  mind  to  sacrifice  the 
prospects  of  a  brilliant  career,  and  ultimate  wealth,  as  a  lawyer  or 
doctor,  for  a  thousand  a  year  as  a  college  tutor,  and  the  chance  of 
waiting  a  dozen  years  for  some  one  to  die  before  he  can  be  promoted. 
Meanwhile,  to  live,  he  must  .give  private  lessons,  which  take  away 
from  his  work  the  time  and  thought  necessary  to  its  successful  per- 
formance, and  we  have  the  teaching  we  have.  Yet  it  is  a  calling 
demanding  no  less  ability,  not  merely  of  the  cramming  order,  of  the 
kind  which  keeps  a  man  at  the  head  of  the  rank-list,  but  of  the  same 
sort  which  will  give  a  man  success  in  other  professions.  We  believe, 
with  all  heartiness,  that  our  colleges  are  paying  as  high  salaries  as 
they  think  they  can  afford.  They  are  forced  to  every  expedient  to 
keep  themselves  above  water,  even  to  the  fatal  one  of  raising  the 
prices  of  tuition,  and  the  cost  of  living  for  the  students. 

One  instance  of  this  mutual  learning  process  among  our  colleges, 
would  seem  to  show  the  absurdity  of  it  in  so  glaring  colors  that  no 
time  should  be  lost  in  doing  away  with  so  anomalous  a  condition  of 
things.  Almost  within  a  stone's  throw  of  one  of  our  largest  univer- 
sities, is  another  college,  making  the  same  pretensions,  obliged  to  keep 
up  the  same  appearances,  to  support  proportionately  more  teachers, 
and  all  to  what  purpose?  In  order  to  furnish  a  kind  of  education  to 
the  sons  of  people  who  hold  a  certain  theological  dogmatic  quibble, 
differing  from  that  particular  quibble  which  the  larger  school  is  sup- 
posed to  represent  by  so  fine  a  distinction  that  the  finest  theological 
hair-splitter  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  finding  it.  The  smaller  college 
condemns  itself  to  insignificance ;  the  larger  could  absorb  the  pupils 


THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION.  31 

of  the  former  and  give  them  at  least  as  good  an  education  without 
perceptible  increase  of  expenditure,  while  the  revenues  of  the  smaller, 
freed  from  the  useless  struggle  for  existence,  could  be  applied  so  as  to 
lift  the  combined  institution  to  a  higher  plane,  to  the  advantage  of 
both.  This  is  perhaps  the  most  striking  instance  of  the  injurious 
effect  of  confounding  religion  with  education.  We  would  carry  work 
still  further,  to  the  point  of  uniting  the  colleges  of  each  state  into  a 
combination  which  should  be  infinitely  more  of  a  power  than  all 
together  can  now  exert.  Let  there  be  in  this  combined  institution, 
religious  teachers  of  as  various  shades  as  there  are  denominations  for 
them  ;  let  the  students  have  the  privilege  of  following,  in  this  respect, 
whomsoever  they  please.  The  sectarian  preachers  would  here  have  a 
field  vastly  more  attractive  than  now,  when  they  know  that  the  major- 
ity of  their  hearers  are  already  on  their  side,  and  the  unsectarian  could 
safely  trust  to  the  influence  of  the  highest  education  to  show  the  dif- 
ference between  learning,  and  believing.  That  rivalry,  which  we  have 
called  the  life  of  religion,  would  be  increased  ;  the  rivalry  which  must 
prove  the  death  of  the  best  education,  would  be  removed.  The  motive 
for  supporting  sectarian  scholars  has  vanished  with  the  years.  The 
pretense  that  this  or  that  study  must  be  avoided  as  dangerous  to 
the  true  faith,  and  that  to  this  end  separate  schools  must  be  founded 
where  the  scholars  can  be  treated  to  an  expurgated  edition  of  educa- 
tion, has  no  longer  the  attraction  it  once  had.  It  is  a  suggestive  sight 
to  see,  at  Leipzig,  a  number  of  young  American  calvinistic  clergymen 
listening  to  men  whose  doctrines  they  must  believe  to  be  utterly 
false,  for  the  sake  of  combating  error  with  its  own  weapons.  Such 
a  combination  of  educational  forces  as  we  have  been  suggesting, 
would  be  dangerous  to  any  dogma,  only  in  so  far  as  it  had  already 
degenerated  into  a  superstition. 

We  know  what  a  storm  there  would  be  about  the  giving  up  of 
individual  interests  if  such  a  plan  should  ever  be  seriously  discussed. 
Such  arguments  remind  one  of  the  long  resistance  to  unity  of 
the  little  German  states,  each  condemned  to  absolute  impotence, 
and  each  as  tenacious  of  its  own  interests  as  if  it  were  a  power  of 
the  first  rank  in  Europe.  There  can  be  here  no  diversity  of  inter- 
ests. The  ends  pursued  are  identical;  the  single  question  is  how 
shall  the  means  at  hand  be  most  effectually  applied,  without  con- 
sulting for  a  moment  what  particularism  will  have  to  say.  We  have 
been  told,  it  is  no  use  urging  such  a  reform  as  this;  the  particularistic 
spirit  is  too  strong;  each  will  hold  by  his  own.  Indeed,  one  might, 
at  first  glance,  be  almost  tempted  to  sigh  for  a  central  power  that 


32  THE     REFORM     IN     HIGHER     EDUCATION. 

should  say  "  it  shall  be  so."  But  rather  a  thousand  times  l«:t  our 
education  stand  where  it  is,  and  our  young  men  be  driven  across  the 
water  to  complete  their  preparation,  if  need  be,  than  run  the  greater 
dangers  which  a  central  controlling  agency  would  bring  with  it. 
Europeans  say  of  us,  we  can  do  anything  of  which  we  see  the  profit 
to  our  own  pockets,  but  that  if  it  should  come  to  sacrificing  interest 
for  principle,  and  for  far  distant  goods,  we  should  fail.  We  could  fancy 
no  more  convincing  proof  of  the  falsehood  of  this  charge  than  such 
an  effort  as  we  have  been  suggesting.  It  would  stand,  with  the  late 
war,  among  our  grandest  assertions  of  our  purpose  to  make  a  state 
where  material  prosperity  shall  but  serve  as  the  means  for  carrying  us 
up  to  the  farthest  heights  of  moral  and  intellectual  greatness. 

We  have  endeavored  to  point  out  the  various  steps  by  which,  in 
our  opinion,  the  highest  educational  ideal  is  to  be  attained.  First, 
the  acknowledgment  to  ourselves  that  we  have  no  other  objects  to 
reach  than  other  peoples  have,  and  that  we  dare  not  be  content  with 
anything  less  than  the  highest.  We  must  then  put  the  student 
upon  his  proper  footing  as  a  man,  with  the  right  which  belongs  to 
man's  estate,  of  choosing  what  he  will  study,  and  from  whom  ;  at 
the  same  time  providing  him  with  every  possible  assistance  and 
direction  in  his  choice.  Following  this  first  necessary  step,  would 
come  the  doing  away  with  all  barriers,  between  teacher  and  taught, 
which  hinder  the  free  exercise  of  the  powers  of  each  ;  then  lectures 
in  the  place  of  recitations,  with  their  possibility  of  larger  classes, 
and  higher  demands  upon  the  instructors.  Last  of  all,  the  sharp 
division  between  religion  and  education,  doing  away  with  every 
reason  for  the  maintenance  of  our  present  multitude  of  sectarian 
schools,  and  bringing  the  possibility  of  that  union  by  which  the 
resources  of  all  can  be  applied  with  tenfold  profit.  These  changes, 
each  of  them,  depend  upon  the  previous  one.  They  must  follow 
each  other,  in  that  order,  in  the  irresistible  progress  toward  the 
highest.  We  confess  our  backwardness  by  sending  our  sons  to  other 
schools  after  we  have  sent  them  to  the  best  we  have  at  home. 

It  has  been  our  attempt  to  sketch  the  outlines  of  a  plan,  by 
which,  in  gradual  progression,  and  with  some  sacrifices  of  minor  inter- 
ests, this  great  end  may  be  attained.  We  have  needed  no  presidential 
message  to  assure  us  that  the  condition  of  our  existence,  is  the  spread 
of  education  among  the  masses  of  our  people.  Already  we  are  see- 
ing the  accomplishment  of  this  first  condition,  with  most  satisfying 
rapidity.  The  problem  as  yet  unsolved  is  as  to  how  we  are  to  pro- 
vide for  the  higher,  and  highest,  education  of  those  who  will  give  to 
their  country  the  results  of  their  training. 


UPPER    SCHOOLS. 

JAMES   McCosn,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

WE  all  have  heard  of — some  of  us  have  been  personally  ac- 
quainted with — the  oblivious  man  who  built  a  house  of  two 
stories,  each  large  and  commodious,  but  who  was  somewhat  morti- 
fied to  find  at  the  close  of  his  work  that  he  had  neglected  to  put 
a  stairway  between.  We  could  name  some  very  wise  countries  which 
have  been  guilty  of  a  like  neglect  in  the  erection  of  a  more  impor- 
tant structure.  They  have  excellent  elementary  schools,  and  col- 
leges of  eminence,  but  they  have  no  generally  diffused  means  of 
enabling  promising  youths  to  rise  from  the  one  to  the  other.  A  set 
of  Upper  Schools,  reaching  every  district  of  the  country,  practically 
open  to  all  classes,  rich  and  poor,  and  under  highly  educated  teachers, 
is  the  grand  excellence  of  the  systems  of  education  in  Prussia,  Aus- 
tria and  Holland,  and  is  the  crying  desideratum  in  England,  Scot- 
land, Ireland,  and  the  United  States. 

So  far  as  ELEMENTARY  or  PRIMARY  Schools  are  concerned  the 
United  States  rank  as  high  as  any  country  in  the  world.  Other 
nations  have  been  looking  to  them,  and  have  profited  by  the  exam- 
ple which  they  have  set  in  earnestly  seeking  to  furnish  a  good  educa- 
tion to  every  child  in  their  wide  dominions.  All  Americans  feel  that 
if  their  republican  institutions  are  to  continue  and  to  prosper,  they 
must  have  an  education  as  universal  as  the  suffrage.  But  in  gratify- 
ing their  national  sin  of  self-adulation  they  must  not  allow  themselves 
to  forget  that  other  nations  are  making  rapid  progress,  and  if  the 
States  are  to  keep  before  them,  or  even  to  keep  up  to  them,  they 
must  be  anxiously  looking  round  for  suggestions,  and  ready  to  adopt 
improvements  from  all  quarters.  In  one  respect  the  educational 
system  in  the  States  is  behind  that  of  several  nations  of  Europe,  and, 
unless  they  awake  to  their  usual  energy,  will  soon  be  behind  those 
of  Canada,  Australia,  and  even  Hindostan.  They  are  without  that 
organized  system  of  superintendence  by  highly  educated  Inspectors, 


34  UPPERSCHOOLS. 

set  apart  for  the  special  work  of  visiting  and  examining  schools,  which 
is  in  thorough  operation  in  England,  Scotland,  Germany,  Austria, 
Holland,  and  other  lands.  The  author  of  this  Article  is  so  old  as 
to  remember  the  time  when  the  systematized  inspection  was  intro- 
duced into  Great  Britain,  and  he  noticed  the  immediate  effect  pro- 
duced on  the  character  of  the  teaching.  We  may  sketch  the  Irish 
system  of  inspection,  which  is  the  most  thoroughly  organized  we 
have  fallen  in  with  in  any  country.  First  there  is  a  Board  of  Edu- 
cation in  Dublin,  with  two  high  class  School  Inspectors,  a  Protestant 
and  a  Catholic,  ready  to  visit  any  school  in  which  a  difficulty  arises. 
There  is  a  Head  Inspector  in  every  county,  a  man  of  scholarly  attain- 
ments, and  paid  at  a  higher  rate  than  the  professors  in  American 
Colleges;  and  there  are  trained  Sub-Inspectors  in  every  district,  re- 
ceiving upwards  of  a  thousand  dollars  a  year,  besides  a  limited  sum 
for  traveling  expenses.  It  is  the  business  of  these  Sub-Inspectors  to 
visit  every  school  in  their  district  at  least  once  in  the  half  year,  if 
possible,  once  in  the  quarter;  and  in  doing  so  they  see  that  the 
scholars  are  properly  organized  into  classes,  they  examine  every  class 
and  every  pupil,  take  down  on  their  books  the  designation  of  every 
class  and  every  pupil,  mark  the  precise  stage  at  which  every  class 
and  every  pupil  is,  and  leave,  in  a  book  kept  in  the  school  for  the 
benefit  of  the  teacher  and  local  managers,  and  open  to  inspection  by 
all,  their  estimate  of  the  school,  particularly  mentioning  both  the  ex- 
cellences and  defects.  When  a  defect  is  pointed  out  in  the  organiza- 
tion, or  in  any  particular  department,  such  as  arithmetic  or  grammar, 
the  teacher  and  local  manager  are  bound  to  see  it  removed.  If  this  is 
not  done  by  the  time  of  the  next  visit,  if  the  class  in  any  study  is  as 
far  behind  as  it  was,  the  case  is  reported  to  the  Dublin  Board,  which 
issues  peremptory  orders,  which  are  sure  to  be  attended  to,  as  other- 
wise the  salary  will  be  withdrawn.  If  any  dispute  arises,  which  sel- 
dom happens,  there  is  an  appeal  open  to  the  County  Superintendent 
or  the  Board  itself.  Besides  these  visits  of  formal  examination  the 
Inspector  may  look  in  upon  the  school  at  any  time  he  is  passing,  to 
see  that  proper  order  and  prescribed  hours  are  kept.  There  is  not 
in  Ireland  any  such  thing  as  we  have  have  seen  in  America — a  school 
opened  half  an  hour  behind  the  time.  This  inspection  is  far  from 
being  obnoxious  to  the  teachers — is  never  disliked  by  good  teachers. 
They  are  enabled  thereby  to  get  valuable  hints  by  which  they  profit. 
They  are  encouraged  by  the  favorable  notices  taken  of  them.  Their 
work  is  felt  to  be  less  of  a  drudgery  when  they  find  it  apprecia- 
ted ;  and  excellent  young  teachers  have  a  means  of  letting  their 


UPPERSCHOOLS.  35 

excellence  be  known,  and  are  put  in  the  way  of  promotion.  Parents 
and  the  community  generally  all  know  and  acknowledge  the  benefit 
derived  from  this  superintendence,  in  the  stimulus  given  to  the 
teacher,  and  the  improved  efficiency  and  accuracy  of  the  instruction 
he  imparts.  We  have  something  of  the  same  kind  in  the  States  in 
the  local  superintendents,  and  especially  in  the  superintendents  of 
education  in  certain  cities.  We  believe  that  these  officers  have  done 
much  good.  We  are  not  recommending  the  abolition  of  their  office 
or  the  dismissal  of  any.  The  best  of  them  might  be  chosen  as  in- 
spectors, and  the  inspectors  might  organize  the  work  of  all  of  them, 
so  as  to  make  it  thoroughly  efficient,  and  reach  every  class  and 
every  scholar  in  the  school.  It  is  evident  that  local  superintendents 
not  separated  from  business  avocations  have  not  the  power  and  the 
means  of  elevating  the  education  of  a  district  to  the  same  extent  as 
educated  men  trained  for  the  purpose,  above  district  prejudice  and 
prepossession,  acquainted  with  the  improved  methods  of  teaching  all 
over  the  world,  and  ready  to  introduce  them  into  the  most  remote 
country  regions.  Some  of  these  ends  are  gained  by  the  papers  and 
discussions  in  the  Teachers'  Institutes,  but  they  will  never  reach 
every  school  till  they  are  carried  thither  by  the  personal  experience 
of  an  inspector.  We  know  that  many  of  the  most  enlightened  edu- 
cationists all  over  America  are  beginning  to  feel  the  want.  We  find 
a  very  strong  expression  on  this  subject  by  the  State  Superinten- 
dent, Mr.  Newton  Bateman,  in  the  Report  from  the  State  of  Illinois, 
1871-2: 

"  Sooner  or  later,  and  the  sooner  the  better,  there  must  and  will  be  some  effectual 
means  provided  to  secure  competent  and  qualified  county  school  inspectors.  Around 
the  fact  that  in  some  counties  the  office  is  held  by  persons  notoriously  unfit  for  the 
position,  and  incapable  of  performing  its  duties,  cluster  nearly  all  of  those  objections 
to  the  office  which  have  in  them  a  color  of  reason  and  force."  "  It  is  believed  that 
this  great  evil  can  be  reached,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  as  speedily  as  possible.  The 
interests  involved  are  too  weighty,  the  results  too  far-reaching,  to  be  needlessly  sacri- 
ficed." "  It  is  a  solecism  in  our  school  system  that  while  no  teacher  can  be  employed 
or  paid  in  any  school  of  the  State,  under  any  circumstances  whatever,  without  due 
examination  and  licensure,  no  conditions  or  qualifications  of  any  kind  or  degree  are 
required  of  the  man  who  conducts  the  examination  and  issues,  or  refuses  to  issue,  the 
licensure." 

We  could  point  out  some  other  defects  in  the  elementary  educa- 
tion of  this  country,  such  as  the  neglect,  in  too  many  schools,  of  music 
and  drawing,  so  fitted  to  interest  young  children,  and  in  the  want  in 
many  places  of  graded  schools,  and  an  organized  system  for  encourag 


36  UPPER     SCHOOLS. 

ing  promising  pupils  to  rise  to  higher  branches ;  but  we  despair  of 
seeing  these  improvements  carried  till  the  influence  of  an  educated 
body  of  inspectors  is  felt  in  every  district  and  in  every  school.  If 
we  had  a  body  of  enlightened  inspectors  visiting  every  country 
school,  and  interested  in  the  boys,  they  would  feel  a  pride,  and  lead 
the  teachers  to  feel  a  pride,  in  sending  up  youths  to  the  secondary 
schools,  and  in  the  end  to  the  colleges.  This  brings  us  to  our  proper 
subject, 

UPPER  SCHOOLS. — We  may  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  more  famous 
systems.  I  begin  with 

The  Gymnasien  and  Real  Schule  of  Germany. — The  author  of  this 
Article  visited  these  schools  some  years  ago,  and  can  speak  from  per- 
sonal observation.  He  received  from  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion authority  to  visit  any  school  in  Prussia.  This  was  published  in 
the  newspapers,  and  wherever  he  went  the  professors  waited  upon 
him  and  offered  every  facility  for  inspection.  He  visited  a  sufficient 
number  of  schools,  both  in  the  large  cities,  such  as  Berlin  and  Halle, 
and  in  the  smaller  towns,  to  be  able  to  judge  of  the  system.  The 
German  State  educational  systems  are  distinguished  for  the  thorough- 
ness of  their  organization.  There  is  an  arranged  unity  and  a  skillful 
gradation  in  them  from  the  lowest  school  up  to  the  highest  university — 
such  as  Berlin,  with  its  two  hundred  instructors,  professors  extraordi- 
nary and  ordinary,  and  docents.  The  boy  enters  when  about  six 
years  of  age,  and  as  education  is  compulsory,  or  (to  use  Mr.  Nor- 
throp's  more  expedient  phrase)  obligatory,  all  are  receiving  instruction 
by  that  age,  and  you  do  not  see  in  Prussia  those  idle  ragged  Arabs 
who  are  constantly  pressing  themselves  on  our  notice  in  the  great 
cities  of  Britain  and  America.  By  nine  or  ten  the  boy  is  ready  for 
the  Gymnasien  or  Real  Schule.  These  two  kinds  of  schools  differ 
from  each  other,  in  that  the  one  gives  the  more  prominent  place  to 
classics,  and  the  other  to  science  with  its  practical  applications.  We 
believe  it  to  be  a  disadvantage  to  children  to  be  obliged  to  decide 
between  those  courses  at  so  early  an  age,  when  neither  they  nor  their 
parents  can  tell  what  are  their  talents,  or  even  their  tastes.  Besides 
the  Gymnasien  and  the  Real  Schule  there  is  all  over  Germany  the 
Burger  Schule,  intended  to  give  a  good  education  to  artisans,  and  in 
the  Hohere  Burger  Schule  instruction  is  given  in  the  high  and  refining 
branches.  These  three  kinds  of  institutions  are  generally  diffused : 
in  every  large  city  you  will  find,  not  one,  but  it  may  be  two,  three 
cr  more  of  them  ;  there  is  one  in  every  town  of  considerable  pop- 
ulation, and  in  every  important  centre  of  population,  so  that  they 


UPPER     SCHOOLS.  37 

are  accessible  without  very  much  inconvenience  to  every  child.  Each 
of  these  may  have  half  a  dozen  professors,  commonly  erudite  men — 
more  so  than  many  holding  chairs  in  the  American  Colleges.  We  are 
happy  to  be  able  to  produce  the  statistics  of  German  secondary 
schools,  prepared  with  care  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  in  this  coun- 
try, and  kindly  forwarded  by  General  Eaton  through  Mr.  Warren : — 

STATISTICS  OF  GERMAN  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS— 1871-1872. 

(From  official  sources.) 

I.  Gymnasie    (Classical  Colleges).     (Population  of  German  Empire,  see  note.) 
Number  of  gymnasia  .......          564 

Number  of  students     ........    108,694 

Numfrer  of  professors  .......       6,95 1 

Number  of  graduates     ........       2,906 

["  Graduates  "  meaning  here  only  those  who  have  entered  the  univer- 
sity.] 

Number  of  volumes  in  libraries  (237  libraries  reported)         .  .          .  1,661,875 

One  person  in  377  of  the  whole  population  of  Germany  has  a  gymnasium 

education. 

One  gymnasium  to  32,805  of  the  population. 
Average  number  of  students  to  each  professor  .  .  .  .  15 

Average  number  of  graduates  from  each  gymnasium  ...  5 

Average  number  of  volumes  in  each  library  (237  reported)     .  .  .7,012 

2.  Real  Schools  (Non-Classical  Colleges?) 
Number  of  Real  Schools          .  .  .  .  ,  .  .481 

Number  of  Students     ........     87,570 

Number  of  professors  .  .  .  .  .  .  .4,756 

Number  of  graduates  .......        1,238 

["  Graduates  "  meaning  here  only  those  who  have  entered  some  higher 

Technical  school.] 

Number  of  volumes  in  libraries  ( 1 68  reported)  ....    264,476 

One  person  in  every  468  of  the  whole  population  of  Germany  has  a  Real 

School  education. 

One  Real  School  to  every  85,360  of  the  population. 

Average  number  of  students  to  each  professor  .  .  .  .  13 

Average  number  of  graduates  from  each  Real  School  ...  8 

Average  number  of  volumes  in  each  library  ( 1 68  reported)    .  .  .        1,574 

3.  Grand  Total  of  Male  Colleges  (Gymnasia  and  Real  Schools)  in  German  Empire. 
Number  of  colleges        ........        1,045 

Number  of  students      ........    196,264 

Number  of  professors  ...••••.      11,707 

Number  of  graduates   ..•••«..       4,144 
(604  colleges  reported.) 

N.  B.— Population  of  Germany,  41,058,196. 


38  UPPERSCHOOLS. 

Number  of  volumes  in  libraries  (405  reported)  ....  11926,333 

One  male  person  in  every  209  of  the  whole  population  of  Germany  has  a 

secondary  (college)  education. 
One  college  to  every  39,290  of  the  population. 

Average  number  of  students  to  each  professor           .            .            .  .            16 

Average  number  of  graduates  from  each  college  (604  colleges  reported)  .              7 

Average  number  of  volumes  in  each  library  (405  libraries  reported)  .       4,756 

This  shows  how  ample  the  provision  in  Germany  for  the  advanced 
education  of  youths.  That  there  should  be  upward  of  1000  such 
schools,  or  as  they  would  be  called  in  this  country,  colleges,  in  the 
German  Empire,  that  instruction  should  be  given  in  them  by  nearly 
12,000  learned  teachers,  that  there  should  be  nearly  200,000  youth, 
attending  them,  shows  a  state  of  things  unequalled  in  any  other 
country  or  age. 

The  full  course  of  study  in  a  gymnasium  runs  over  nine  years. 
There  are  in  all  six  classes,  the  three  lower  occupying  a  year  each, 
the  three  upper  two  years  each.  Let  us  look  at  what  the  student 
has  done  at  the  end  of  five  years,  that  is  when  he  has  gone  through 
the  three  annual  courses  and  the  first  biennial,  and  may  be  fourteen 
or  fifteen  years  of  age.  Besides  religion,  (taught  too  often  by  infidel 
teachers)  he  has  been  taught  the  German  language,  Geography  and 
Arithmetic,  Latin  Grammar  with  selections  from  Caesar  and  Ovid, 
Greek  Grammar  with  selections  from  Xenophon,  French  Grammar 
and  Composition,  elements  of  Geometry  with  lessons  in  Botany. 
Mineralogy  and  Anthropology,  and  German,  Greek  and  Roman 
History.  The  youth  would  not  be  fit  to  enter  Freshman  in  America, 
but  he  has  learned  branches  of  which  our  Freshmen  are  ignorant. 
Four  years  after,  at  the  end  of  the  nine  years'  course,  he  is  fully  as 
good  a  scholar,  he  is  commonly  a  more  accurate  scholar,  than  if  he 
had  passed  through  the  freshman  and  sophomore  classes  in  the  best 
American  colleges. 

The  system  pursued  at  the  Gymnasien  and  Real  Schule  is  slow 
but  systematic.  A  youth  is  not  allowed  to  tumble  in  at  any  place, 
as  he  may  do  in  a  British  and  American  school,  and  perhaps  prepare 
himself  for  college  by.the  study  of  classics  for  a  single  year.  He 
must  begin  at  the  beginning  and  cannot  pass  over  a  class  per  saltum. 
We  have  sometimes  felt  that  while  there  is  more  of  drill  exercise  in 
the  German  schools,  there  is  less  of  life  and  independent  study 
than  in  the  best  American  and  British  schools.  At  about  the  age 
of  eighteen,  the  youth  leaves  the  gymnasium  and  he  may  apply  for 
certain  public  positions,  as  in  the  post-office  and  the  revenue.  These 


UPPERSCHOOLS.  39 

offices  cannot  be  obtained  by  those  who  have  not  gone  through  the 
course.  In  this  manner  Germany  fosters  learning  in  a  way  unknown 
in  this  country,  and  has  secured  a  well-educated  and  generally  a  high- 
minded  and  trustworthy  body  of  public  servants.  Or,  the  youth 
may  now — not  sooner  or  by  any  other  method — pass  on  to  a  uni- 
versity, and  then  for  the  first  time  he  is  allowed  independence  of 
thought  and  study,  and  is  often  tempted  to  abuse  it  by  the  lectures 
of  the  professors,  each  of  whom  is  ambitious  to  display  originality, 
and  thus  attract  pupils.  The  strict  discipline  which  guarded  him  so 
effectually  in  his  earlier  years  is  now  relaxed,  and  numbers  give  them- 
selves up  to  beer-drinking,  and  sword  duels,  returning  to  systematic 
study  only  after  two  or  three  years  of  idleness,  and  this  from  fear  of 
the  final  examination.  During  the  college  course  there  are  no  reci- 
tations, or  periodical  examinations.  At  the  close  there  is  a  very 
rigid  examination,  not  by  the  instructors,  but  by  a  competent  com- 
mission— it  is  surely  to  be  desired  that  the  examination  for  degrees  in 
the  American  colleges,  should  as  in  the  British  and  German  colleges,, 
be  handed  over  to  examiners  who  have  not  taught  the  candi- 
dates. Those  who  pass  the  examination  can  go  on  to  the  higher 
professions  such  as  the  bar  or  the  church.  By  this  organized  system 
of  instruction,  and  by  the  government  departments  co-operating,  and 
requiring  on  the  part  of  those  who  apply  for  public  offices  lower  or 
higher,  that  they  have  passed  through  a  course  at  a  secondary  school 
or  university,  Germany  has  secured  a  large  body  of  educated  citi- 
zens. There  never  was  so  well  educated  a  body  of  men  in  any 
army  as  that  which  Bismarck  and  Moltke  took  with  them  into  France 
in  the  late  war;  and  every  one  grants  that  this  intelligence  helped  to 
make  them  triumphant. 

The  Endowed  Schools  of  England.  The  character  of  these  is  well 
known.  The  funds  have  come  from  old  endowments,  the  value  of 
which  has  greatly  increased  from  the  rise  in  the  price  of  property. 
They  are  almost  all  connected  with  the  Established  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  are  associated  directly,  more  frequently  indirectly,  with 
the  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  They  are  attended  by 
the  sons  of  the  nobility,  or  the  wealthier  under-classes  who  wish  to 
get  their  sons  into  good  society.  The  classics  form  the  basis  and 
the  main  body  of  the  teaching  which  is  imparted  by  learned  men 
trained  at  the  great  English  Universities.  The  classical  teaching  at 
these  schools  has  certainly  been  the  means  of  training  the  great  body 
of  the  eminent  statesmen  and  orators  which  England  has  produced. 
A  first  class  English  school,  if  it  does  not  impart  much  general 


40  UPPERSCHOOLS. 

knowledge,  contrives,  by  its  open  air  exercise  and  the  manliness  of 
its  school  life,  to  prepare  youth  for  acting  their  part  in  the  world ; 
and  the  high  studies  have  sharpened  the  intellect  of  many  and  pro- 
duced a  refinement  among  a  select  few,  such  as  you  will  find  with 
difficulty  in  any  other  country.  Of  late  royal  commissioners  have 
carefully  inquired  into  the  state  of  these  schools,  and  exposed  their 
enormous  defects,  especially  in  the  neglect  of  modern  languages, 
science  and  English  composition,  and  these  branches  are  now  being 
introduced,  though  rather  in  a  grudging  manner,  into  a  number  of 
the  schools.  Attempts  have  been  made  of  late  years,  with  partial 
success  to  establish  in  various  places  Middle  Class  Schools — a  very 
objectionable  phrase  as  it  seems  to  exclude  the  children  of  the  poor, 
who  are  in  fact  excluded  by  the  high  fees  exacted.  Scattered 
throughout  England  we  have  also  a  number  of  schools  started  on 
the  teacher's  own  adventure.  But  in  respect  of  the  number  of  sec- 
ondary schools,  and  the  utter  want  of  a  provision  for  giving  a  high 
class  education  to  the  children  of  the  poor,  there  is  no  advanced 
country  in  the  world  so  deficient  as  England. 

Irish  Upper  Schools.  Much  the  same  may  be  said  of  Ireland.  It 
has  two  excellent  universities,  Dublin,  and  the  Queen's  with  its  three 
Queen's  Colleges.  Its  secondary  education  consists  of  a  number  of 
Royal  and  Diocesan  schools  which  have  much  the  same  excellences 
and  defects  as  the  endowed  schools  of  England,  and  are  the  feeders 
of  Dublin  College,  leaving  the  Queen's  Colleges  without  suitable 
preparatory  schools.  Besides  there  are  a  few  excellent  academies  in 
such  places  as  Belfast,  Londonderry  and  Coleraine,  supported  by 
associations  interested  in  education. 

Parochial  and  Burgh  Schools  of  Scotland.  In  respect  of  Upper 
Schools  Scotland  differs  widely  from  both  England  and  Ireland 
The  educational  system  of  Scotland  was  projected  by  John  Knox— 
whose  character,  so  long  maligned,  has  been  successfully  defended 
by  McCrie  and  Froude — who  proclaimed  that  there  should  be  an 
elementary  school,  open  to  all,  in  every  parish,  a  grammar  school, 
with  Latin  and  Greek,  in  every  burgh  town,  and  a  university  in  each 
of  the  four  leading  cities.  What  he  recommended  he  was  enabled 
to  execute  by  the  unequaled  energy  of  his  character.  The  Parochial 
Schools  of  Scotland  constitute  the  first  example  of  an  education  pro- 
vided for  the  whole  of  the  people.  It  is  the  peculiar  excellence  of 
the  Scottish  system  that  the  parish  schoolmasters  are  acquainted 
with  Latin  and  elementary  mathematics,  and  many  of  them  know 
Greek,  while  some  of  them  are  very  superior  scholars,  especially  in 


UPPER     SCHOOLS.  41 

Aberdeenshire,  where  their  salaries  are  augmented  by  the  Dick 
Bequest.  The  consequence  is  that  in  Scotland  every  boy  has  within 
a  short  distance  of  him  a  teacher  fitted  to  instruct  him  in  the  higher 
branches.  A  considerable  number  of  the  students  in  the  four  univer- 
sities have  come  up  directly  from  the  parish  schools.  In  every  char- 
tered town  there  is  a  burgh  school,  with  a  number  of  teachers  :  a 
teacher  of  English,  with  assistants ;  a  teacher  of  Classics  ;  a  teacher 
of  Penmanship  and  Mercantile  branches ;  a  teacher  of  Arithmetic, 
Mathematics,  and  Science ;  often  a  teacher  of  French  and  German  ; 
and  a  teacher  of  Drawing.  Each  boy  may  take  what  branches  he 
pleases  :  may  take  classics  without  the  mercantile  branches,  or  the 
mathematical  and  scientific  course  without  the  ancient  languages. 
There  is  often  a  difficulty  in  arranging  the  hours  to  suit  the  tastes  of 
the  pupils ;  but  the  Board  of  Teachers  contrives  somehow  or  other  to 
meet  the  wants  of  all.  There  is  a  well-arranged  course  for  those 
who  are  preparing  for  college.  The  scholarship  is  not  so  high  at 
these  burgh  schools  as  in  the  German  Gymnasien,  but  it  is  as  well 
fitted  to  prepare  youth  for  the  business  of  life. 

We  might  dwell  on  the  educational  systems  of  other  European 
countries,  but  our  space  does  not  admit.  The  Austrian  system  is 
modeled  on  the  Prussian,  and  is  very  little  behind  it.  The  grand 
hope  of  Austria  lies  in  its  admirable  schools.  Much  the  same  organ- 
ization is  found  in  Holland.  In  France  the  schools  may  have  been 
to  some  extent  benefited,  but  to  some  extent  they  have  been  re- 
pressed, by  their  dependence  on  the  university. 

Secondary  Instruction  in  the  United  States.  We  have  before  us 
the  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1872,  and  in  it 
there  is  a  table  in  regard  to  secondary  institutions.  The  statistics 
are  as  good  as  the  Bureau  is  in  circumstances  to  supply ;  but  they 
are  acknowledged  to  be  very  imperfect.  The  report  says  that  it  is 
impossible  to  include  the  course  of  study  pursued  in  these  institu- 
tions, and  declares  that  it  cannot  yet  answer  the  question  so  often 
asked,  "  What  ought  they  to  do?  "  In  one  table  the  total  number  of 
Academies  is  811;  of  Instructors,  male  and  female,  4,501  ;  of  Stu- 
dents, male  and  female,  98,929.  The  number  of  pupils  at  first  sight 
seems  considerably  large,  but  when  we  examine  the  record  we  find  a 
result  by  no  means  flattering : 

BRANCHES  PURSUED. 

English 33,624 

Classics 8,517 

Modern  Languages 7,277 


42  UPPERSCHOOLS. 

DESTINATION  OF  PUPILS. 

To  enter  college         ...........  3,444 

To  enter  scientific  colleges 992 

Who  have  entered  colleges  last  academic  year 856 

Who  have  entered  scientific  schools  last  year 316 

Total  who  have  entered  colleges,  and  scientific  colleges  and  scientific  schools  5,772 

It  will  be  perceived  that  of  the  9^,929  pupils  at  the  academies, 
33,624  are  classed  as  pursuing  English ;  and  we  suspect  that  many 
of  them  are  receiving  no  higher  an  education  than  is  to  be  had  at 
the  best  common  schools.  We  have  a  record  of  only  8,517,  males 
and  females,  learning  the  classical  languages,  that  is,  the  languages 
that  open  to  us  the  ancient  world,  with  its  literature  and  its  history, 
and  in  particular  the  New  Testament,  which,  not  to  speak  of  its 
Divine  character,  has  had  a  greater  influence  on  modern  thought 
.than  all  other  books.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  Germany  the 
whole  of  the  108,690  students  in  the  Gymnasien  are  learning  Latin 
and  Greek,  and  that  the  87,000  pupils  in  the  Real  Schule  are  learn- 
ing Latin.  It  should  be  noticed  farther  that  we  have  a  return  of 
only  3,444  preparing  for  college;  of  only  856  who  have  entered  col- 
lege during  the  previous  year;  and  only  5,772  who  have  been  sent  to 
college  by  these  institutions  since  their  organization. 

The  Government  Census  gives  a  somewhat  different  report  from 
that  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Education.  This  discrepancy  does  not 
imply  any  error,  or  even  any  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  Census 
Commissioners  or  the  Commissioner  of  Education.  It  merely  mani- 
fests how  imperfect  the  returns  have  been,  or  rather  it  shows  how 
imperfect  the  organization  of  these  schools  is,  and  how  difficult  it  is 
in  regard  to  many  of  them  to  say  whether  they  are  primary  or  sec- 
ondary, or  halfway  between,  or  a  mixture  of  the  two.  The  Census 
gives  1,518  academies,  or  707  more  than  have  been  reported  to  the 
Bureau,  and  makes  the  attendance  129,406,  whereas  the  Bureau  has 
heard  of  only  98,929.  It  is  calculated  that  there  are  in  America 
2,455,000  persons,  male  and  female,  from  the  ages  of  15  to  17  inclu- 
sive ;  and  we  have  no  evidence  of  more  than  129,406  attending  acad- 
emies ;  and  of  these  between  a  half  and  a  third  seem  to  be  simply 
studying  English,  and  a  number  of  these,  we  fear,  not  taking  the 
higher  departments  of  English. 

A  considerable  number  of  the  institutions  designated  academies 
are  boarding-schools.  Let  it  be  observed  of  them  that  they  are  not 
available  to  any  but  to  the  rich,  who  can  afford  to  pay  $400,  $500,  or 
$600  a  year  for  each  of  their  children.  Many  of  these  establishments 


UPPER     SCHOOLS.  43 

are  doing  immeasurable  good,  are  imparting  a  high  intellectual  edu- 
cation, with  an  excellent  training,  moral  and  religious.  But  they 
differ  very  much  as  to  the  instruction  and  the  care  taken  of  the  morals 
of  the  pupils.  Not  a  few  of  those  who  are  at  the  head  of  these 
establishments  have  no  higher  ambition  than  to  earn  a  livelihood  for 
the  present,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  to  lay  up  a  competency 
which  may  make  them  independent.  I  know  of  some  that  deserve 
to  have  done  for  them  what  Dickens  did  for  Do-the-Boys  Hall.  At 
the  private  boarding-schools  the  principal  is  under  no  official  inspec- 
tion, and  he  is  tempted  to  send  home  flattering  and  false  reports 
to  the  parents,  who  are  often  too  busy  to  make  any  searching 
inquiries.  In  too  many  cases  the  teacher  feels  that  he  can  not  send 
home  a  wicked  boy  who  is  corrupting  half  the  school,  but  who 
belongs  to  an  influential  family,  whose  patronage  is  not  to  be 
thrown  away.  At  a  very  large  number  of  the  institutions  the  teach- 
ers do  not  aim,  or  profess  to  aim,  at  producing  high  scholarship  ;  they 
feel  that  they  have  accomplished  all  that  they  intend  when  they  have 
prepared  their  pupils  for  the  business  of  this  world. 

So  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  statistics  furnished  by  the  Bureau, 
only  a  small  proportion  of  the  students  entering  the  colleges,  classical 
and  scientific,  are  sent  by  the  academies.  We  learn  from  one  of  the 
tables  that  there  are  19,260  students  in  the  collegiate  courses,  and 
when  we  compare  this  with  the  number  of  pupils  at  academies  pre- 
paring to  enter  colleges,  only  3,444,  and  when  we  consider  that  the 
academies  can  report  only  5,772  as  having  been  prepared  by  them  for 
college,  we  see  they  are  not  the  principal  feeders  of  the  colleges. 
The  question  arises,  where  have  the  great  body  of  the  I9,26ostudents 
been  trained  ?  The  answer  is,  in  a  very  varied  way — a  number  in  a 
nondescript  way.  A  considerable  number  are,  in  fact,  self-educated, 
having  only  had  irregular  lessons  from  a  minister  of  religion  interested 
in  them  ;  by  a  tutor  picked  up  for  the  occasion,  or  a  school-teacher 
at  his  unemployed  hours.  This  shows  how  difficult  it  is' in  all  States 
out  of  New  England — where  they  have  numerous  academies  and  high 
schools — to  have  young  men  prepared  to  enter  college,  and  how 
difficult  it  is  for  our  colleges  to  raise  their  standard  of  entrance  with 
out  casting  off  able,  deserving,  and  promising  young  men. 

We  have  not  been  able  to  prepare  such  careful  statistics  as  we 
expected  as  to  high  schools.  Massachusetts  here  takes  the  lead. 
Her  old  Colonial  law  of  1647  required  every  town  of  one  hundred 
families  to  support  a  high  school, whose  teacher  should  be  "able  to 
instruct  youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  university.  This 


44  UPPER     SCHOOLS. 

enactment  laid  the  foundation  of  the  greatness  of  the  old  Bay  State. 
It  was  for  a  time  somewhat  in  abeyance,  but  of  late  years  vigorous 
attempts  have  been  made  to  have  it  put  in  thorough  operation.  It  is 
reported  that  during  the  past  year  179  high  schools  have  been  main- 
tained in  165  cities  and  towns.  Only  three  towns  required  by  law 
failed  to  maintain  a  high  school.  Many  of  these  schools  are  i.ot 
what  might  be  expected  from  the  name  ;  still,  even  in  the  poorest  of 
them,  greater  advantages  are  presented  than  could  be  offered  by  the 
other  schools  in  the  same  town  ;  and  in  many  of  the  large  cities  and 
towns  an  education  is  afforded,  without  expense  to  the  pupil,  more 
extensive  and  complete  than  can  be  acquired  in  many  colleges.  Their 
influence,  when  they  are  wisely  and  liberally  supported,  is  incalcula- 
ble. From  them  our  colleges  receive  their  largest  and  often  best 
supplies.  From  the  high  school  at  Woburn,  a  town  having  a  popula- 
tion of  less  than  9,000,  twenty  graduated  last  June,  five  of  whom 
were  going  to  college.  Including  these  five  there  were  twenty-eight 
members  of  the  school  studying  with  reference  to  a  collegiate  educa- 
tion. Nine  others,  who  were  fitted  at  this  school,  were  at  that  time 
in  different  colleges."  Massachusetts  owes  much  to  her  common 
schools,  much  to  her  universities,  but  it  owes  quite  as  much  to  her 
academies  and  high  schools.  These  have  seized  the  brightest  youths 
in  the  elementary  schools,  and  sent  them  on  to  the  colleges,  which 
have  flourished  in  consequence.  There  are  high  schools  sustained 
by  State  enactments  in  other  New  England  States,  and  hence  that 
portion  of  our  country  has  been  able  to  maintain  in  efficiency  so  many 
colleges. 

We  cannot  find  evidence  of  the  other  States  of  the  Union  being 
inclined  to  establish  high  schools.  There  are  wide  regions  of 
America  which  have  good  colleges,  but  not,  so  far  as  we  can  discover, 
a  single  high  school  or  academy  worthy  of  the  name,  and  the  col- 
leges are  holding  by  a  low  standard  of  scholarship,  and  altogether  in 
a  languishing  condition.  It  appears,  however,  that  many  of  the  cities 
are  exerting  themselves  to  establish  high  schools.  We  are  able  to 
present  the  statistics  of  the  high  schools  in  326  cities,  the  aggregate 
population  of  which  amounts  to  more  than  eight  millions. 

In  towns  above.      Towns  above.        Towns  under.  Total. 

High  Schools                      .        .         168  89  98  355 

Teachers          ....  902  226  203 

Pupils 22,970  5,975  5>°36 

It  would  be  impossible  for  the  acutest  schoolman,  skilled  in  defini- 


UPPERSCHOOLS.  45 

tion,  to  construct  a  definition  which  will  exactly  characterize  the 
branches  taught  in  these  schools.  Latin  and  elementary  science  are 
taught  in  most  of  them,  and  in  a  number  Greek  to  those  who  wish  it. 
Some  of  them  do  little  for  colleges.  We  have  seen  it  stated  that  the 
Cincinnati  High  School  and  the  Chicago  High  School,  each  with  an 
attendance  between  400  and  600,  send  on  an  average  from  four  to  seven 
students  to  collegiate  institutions.  We  find,  however,  that  in  the 
high  schools  there  are  reported  2, 510  pupils  preparing  for  college, 
and  687  for  scientific  schools.  A  number  of  boys  begin  their  higher 
instruction  in  the  high  school,  and  then  go  on  to  some  preparatory 
school  to  make  them  ready  for  college.  The  friends  of  education  in 
America  should  devote  all  their  energies,  in  their  several  States  and 
cities,  to  have  the  number  of  these  schools  increased,  and  higher 
instruction  imparted  in  them. 

From  this  survey  we  may  gather  several  important  lessons  as  to 
secondary  instruction  in  the  United  States. 

1.  The  statistics   we   have   of  academies   and    high  schools  are 
very  imperfect.     The  Bureau  of  Education  ought  to  be  encouraged 
in  their  efforts  to  keep  the  whole  subject  of  secondary  instruction 
before  the  public. 

2.  The  secondary   schools  are  not  organized  as  in  some  other 
countries.      This,   no  doubt,   is  an  advantage,   viewed  under   some 
aspects.     It  would  be  wrong  to  discourage  private  enterprise,  and  we 
find,  in  fact,   that   some  of  the  best  academies  of  the  country  are 
entirely  managed  by  the  teacher  or  a  small  body  of  trustees.     Still 
much  benefit  would  arise  from  having  the  public  academies  and  high 
schools  under  some  sort  of  organization  ;  voluntary  on  the  part  of 
those  which  are  supported  by  private  endowment,  and  with  a  public 
inspection  on  the  part  of  those  which  are  under  cities  or  States.     This 
would  give  a  unity  with  diversity  to  the  teaching,  and  tend  to  elevate 
the  inferior  to  the  standard  of  the  superior. 

3.  While   a  high  order  of  instruction  is  given  in  some  of  the 
academies   and  high  schools,  in  many  the  branches  taught  are  far 
too  limited,  and  the  standard  aimed  at  in  them  is  much  too  low. 
The  very  discussion  of  the  subject  may  help  to  remedy  the  evil,  and 
may  terminate  in  a  more  thorough  organization.     Though  we  are  not 
in  possession  of  full  statistics  as  to  upper  schools,  we  have  evidence 
that  in  respect  of  numbers  they  are  not  equal  to  the  wants  of  the 
community.     Wide   regions,  even   in   some   of  our   most  advanced 
States,  are  without  a  high  school  to  give  higher  instruction  to  the 
middle  and  lower  classes,  and  without  an  academy  for  the  wealthy. 


46  UPPERSCHOOLS. 

Parents  write  us  from  various  places  that  they  are  not  within  hun- 
dreds of  miles  of  any  school  fitted  to  prepare  their  sons  for  college,  or 
give  them  any  higher  instruction  than  is  to  be  had  at  the  common 
schools. 

4.  The  consequence  of  all  this  is,  that  there  is  a  vast  amount  of 
talent  lost  to  the  country,  in  bright  boys  fitted  to  shine  in  the  higher 
walks  of  life,  in  literature,  in  science,  in  statesmanship,  and  in  the 
church,  who  are  obliged  to  devote  themselves  to  occupations  which 
could  be  as  well  filled  by  inferior  minds.  We  hold  that  the  secondary 
school  is  the  main  means  of  calling  forth  talent  in  every  country.  It 
seizes  the  most  promising  boys  at  the  primary  schools,  and  sends  them 
on  to  the  college,  or  into  the  higher  professions,  where  they  have  the 
means  of  distinguishing  themselves  and  benefiting  their  country. 

The  question  arises,  what  are  we  to  do  ?  We  answer  that  we 
are  first  to  seek  to  lead  the  friends  of  education  to  see  that  there  is  a 
want,  and  then  the  American  public  will  find  some  way  of  meeting 
it.  Two  ways  are  open  : 

Private  Endowments,  provided  by  wealthy  and  generous  individ- 
uals or  by  public-spirited  associations.  Much  may  be  done  in  this 
way.  But  in  order  to  do  this  there  must  be  a  new  feeling  created, 
pains  must  be  taken  by  the  press,  and  by  persons  of  influence  such 
as  ministers  of  religion,  to  convince  benevolent  men  that  they  can 
accomplish  far  more  good  by  establishing  a  thoroughly  equipped 
academy,  giving  instruction  in  varied  departments  of  ancient  and 
modern  learning,  than  by  setting  up  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle 
States  a  new  college  to  weaken  the  other  colleges,  and  bring  down 
their  standard  of  scholarship  in  the  competition  for  students.  It 
would  be  far  more  to  the  credit  of  a  liberal  man  to  have  his  name 
associated  with  academies  such  as  Exeter  or  Andover,  than  to  be 
handed  down  to  posterity  as  the  founder  of  some  weakling  college 
ever  ready  to  die,  called  Smith's  College,  or  Jones'  Scientific  Insti- 
tute, or  Robinson  University.  If  such  a  spirit  could  be  created  and 
fostered,  we  believe  that  it  might  accomplish  the  work.  But  we 
despair  of  seeing  such  an  inclination  produced  for  many  years,  in  this 
country,  and  meanwhile  a  whole  generation  will  pass  away,  without 
the  want  being  supplied.  Besides,  all  such  efforts  would  be  sporadic, 
and  in  certain  places  we  should  have  a  plethora  of  such  institutions, 
and  an  injurious  competition — each  denomination  setting  up  its 
school ;  while  other  and  wide  districts  would  be  left  destitute.  We 
must  therefore  combine  another  method  with  this : 

State  and  City  Endowments.     Many   cities   are  already  alive  to 


UPPERSCHOOLS.  47 

this  method  of  elevating  the  rising  generation.  We  are  aware  that 
there  may  be  difficulties  in  persuading  the  States  to  establish  such 
schools,  but  if  the  known  friends  of  education  will  do  their  duty  and 
press  the  need  on  public  notice,  we  believe  that  there  are  States  which 
could  be  induced  to  begin  the  new  work.  We  know  that  religious 
difficulties  may  arise,  but  these  same  difficulties  meet  us  in  elemen- 
tary schools,  and  the  friends  of  religion  must  be  prepared  to  meet 
them  in  the  one  case  as  they  have  done  in  the  other. 

At  this  point  we  venture  to  raise  the  question,  what  is  to  be  done 
with  the  millions  (some  say  ninety  millions,  others  maintain  that 
this  is  an  exaggeration)  of  unappropriated  land  at  the  disposal  of  the 
General  Government.  An  attempt  was  made  last  session  of  Con- 
gress to  devote  the  whole  or  the  half  of  the  sum  to  be  realized  by 
the  sale  of  these  lands  to  what  were  called  Agricultural  Schools. 
The  schools  which  expected  to  receive  a  share  of  the  funds  were  em- 
ployed for  months  in  preparing  and  promoting  their  measure. 
Members  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  were  anxious  to  be  able  to 
go  back  to  their  constituents  with  the  assurance  that  they  could 
bring  down  with  them  half  a  million  of  money  or  $50,000  a  year. 
Friends  of  education  were  glad  to  get  the  sum  allocated  to  a  good 
end,  were  it  only  to  prevent  it  from  being  wasted  in  political  jobbing. 
But  there  were  the  advocates  of  higher  education,  who  when  they 
learned  that  such  a  measure  was  quietly  passing  the  House  and 
Senate,  set  themselves  courageously  against  the  allocation  of  so  large 
a  sum  of  money  to  so  narrow  and  sectional  a  purpose.  They  argued 
that  so  far  as  these  schools  were  simply  agricultural  ones,  they  were 
not  accomplishing  so  great  a  good  as  to  entitle  them  to  this  large 
endowment.  We  could  show  that  in  no  country  in  the  world  has 
agriculture  been  essentially  promoted  by  agricultural  schools.  In 
Scotland  where  the  farming  is  so  excellent,  it  is  promoted  by  Farm- 
ers' Associations  with  Magazines  and  Lectures,  and  not  by  special 
colleges.  In  Germany  there  are  only  six  agricultural  colleges,  and 
we  can  testify  from  personal  visitation  that  some  of  them  are  very 
feeble  institutions.  If  a  youth  is  bent  on  being  a  scientific  farmer 
let  him  go  to  an  institution  for  general  science,  with  a  chair  of  agri- 
culture attached,  and  let  him  learn  the  art  on  the  farm.  We  hold 
very  resolutely  that  before  so  many  millions  be  lavished  on  them, 
there  should  be  a  special  inquiry  into  what  these  agricultural  schools 
are,  and  what  they  are  doing,  with  the  number  of  bona  fide  agricul- 
tural pupils,  and  specially  as  to  the  number  of  those  trained  at  so 


48  UPPER     SCHOOLS. 

large  an  expense  who  have  thought  it  worth  their  while  to  turn  to 
farming. 

But  then  it  was  urged  that  many  of  the  schools  to  be  endowed 
are  more  than  mere  agricultural  schools — they  are  schools  of  science, 
schools  of  technology.  But  this  only  raises  other  and  perhaps  more 
formidable  objections.  First,  some  of  these  schools  have  produced 
very  few  agricultural  students;  we  do  not  know  that  Sheffield  Scien- 
tific School  has  produced  one.  At  the  Teachers'  Association  at 
Elmira  the  head  of  a  college  beyond  the  Mississippi  was  declaring 
that  the  institution  claiming  the  endowment  was  a  flourishing  one  ; 
but  when  asked  to  condescend  on  particulars,  he  showed  he  was  a 
thoroughly  honest  man  by  allowing  that  the  number  of  agricultural 
pupils  was  only  two  !  But  secondly,  and  more  particularly,  by  allow- 
ing grants  to  certain  scientific  institutions  and  not  to  others,  there  is 
introduced  a  principle  of  partiality  and  therefore  of  positive  injustice. 
It  was  dexterously  provided  that  the  allocations  were  to  be  reserved 
for  those  institutions  which  were  so  lucky  as  to  grab  a  previous  grant 
in  1862.  We  are  prepared  to  show  that  the  allocations  of  1862  were 
not  always  made  to  the  best  institutions  in  the  States,  and  that  an 
additional  grant  to  them  would  be  an  additional  injustice.  It  is 
surely  best  for  the  country  and  for  education  to  put  all  our  compe- 
ting scientific  schools  on  the  same  footing.  The  excellences  of  Cor- 
nell University  have  been  widely  proclaimed  and  are  well-known :  and 
we  find  its  president  claiming  that  it  graduated  in  agriculture  two  stu- 
dents and  a  half  in  June  last ! !  and  I  ask  why  it  should  receive  half  a 
million  (after  having  got  a  large  sum  before)  while  the  other  colleges  in 
New  York  State,  not  so  well-known,  but  striving  to  give  as  high  an  edu- 
cation, get  nothing?  The  Senate  of  New  York  State  decided  that 
question  last  spring  when  it  was  brought  before  them  by  a  vote  of 
twenty-nine  to  one.  Why  should  the  Agricultural  School  at  Am- 
herst  get  so  large  a  sum,  and  Amherst  College,  and  other  able  col- 
leges of  Massachusetts,  have  no  encouragement  ?  We  know  that  the 
Sheffield  School  is  doing  much  good — though  certainly  not  in  the 
way  of  training  agricultural  pupils  ;  but  why  should  it  get  all  and 
the  other  institutions  of  Connecticut  be  left  to  struggle  without 
State  aid?  The  College  at  New  Brunswick  is  a  good  one,  under  the 
control  of  members  of  the  Dutch  Church,  but  why  should  it  get  so 
many  thousands  a  year  when  its  neighbor  at  Princeton  connected 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church  receives  nothing?  Princeton  we  hap- 
pen to  know  asks  and  wishes  nothing,  but  claims  a  fair  field  and  no 
favor,  which  it  cannot  have  if  its  rivals  are  subsidized.  When  the 


UPPERSCHOOLS.  49 

Government  pampers  one  such  institution  in  a  State  it  does  as  much 
as  within  it  lies,  to  weaken  all  kindred  institutions,  and  is  thus  indi- 
'rectly  but  powerfully  hindering  the  cause  which  it  professes  to  benefit. 
We  are  not  foes  to  agricultural  colleges,  but  we  do  not  look  on 
them  as  entitled  to  receive  the  last  gift  of  land  which  the  Govern- 
ment has  to  bestow. 

We  hold  that  the  sum  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  should 
be  allotted  fairly,  not  to  denominational  colleges,  and  just  as  little  to 
those  which  are  as  sectarian  as  any,  since  they  exclude  religion,  but 
to  institutions  open  to  all,  and  giving  instruction  in  branches  in  which 
not  mere  sections  of  the  people,  such  as  farmers,  or  engineers,  or 
mariners  (if  these,  why  not  carpenters  or  masons  also?),  but  all  classes 
of  the  people  may  receive  profit.  Another  principle  will,  we  hope, 
be  attended  to.  We  hold,  with  all  the  enlightened  educationists  of 
the  world,  that  when  public  grants  are  voted  for  educational  pur- 
poses, above  what  is  given  to  elementary  schools,  they  should  be 
given  to  encourage  the  highest  and  not  the  lowest  branches.  There 
is  profound  wisdom  in  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill : 

"  If  we  were  asked  for  what  end  above  all  others  endowed  universities  exist,  or 
ought  to  exist,  we  should  answer — To  keep  alive  philosophy.  This,  too,  is  the  ground 
on  which,  of  late  years,  our  own  national  endowments  have  chiefly  been  defended. 
To  educate  common  minds  for  the  common  business  of  life,  a  public  provision  may 
be  useful,  but  it  is  not  indispensable :  nor  are  there  wanting  arguments,  not  conclu- 
sive, yet  of  considerable  strength,  to  show  that  it  is  undesirable.  Whatever  individ- 
ual competition  does  at  all,  it  commonly  does  best.  All  things  in  which  the  public 
are  adequate  judges  of  excellence,  are  best  supplied  where  the  stimulus  of  individual 
interest  is  the  most  active ;  and  that  is  where  pay  is  in  proportion  to  exertion :  not 
where  pay  is  made  sure  in  the  first  instance,  and  the  only  security  for  exertion  is 
the  superintendence  of  Government ;  far  less  where,  as  in  the  English  universities, 
even  that  security  has  been  successfully  excluded.  But  there  is  an  education  of 
which  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  the  public  are  competent  judges ;  the  education 
by  which  great  minds  are  formed.  To  rear  up  minds  with  aspirations  and  facul- 
ties above  the  herd,  capable  of  leading  on  their  countrymen  to  greater  achieve- 
ments in  virtue,  intelligence,  and  social  well-being ;  to  do  this,  and  likewise  so  to 
educate  the  leisured  classes  of  the  community  generally,  that  they  may  participate 
as  far  as  possible  in  the  qualities  of  these  superior  spirits,  and  be  prepared  to  ap- 
preciate them,  and  follow  in  their  steps — these  are  purposes  requiring  institutions  of 
education  placed  above  dependence  on  the  immediate  pleasure  of  that  very  multitude 
whom  they  are  designed  to  elevate.  These  are  the  ends  for  which  endowed  uni- 
versities are  desirable ;  they  are  those  which  endowed  universities  profess  to  aim  at ; 
and  greater  is  their  disgrace,  if,  having  undertaken  this  task,  and  claiming  credit  for 
fulfilling  it,  they  leave  it  unfulfilled." 

We  do  not  propose  that  any  portion  of  the  money  derived  from 
the  unappropriated  lands  should  be  allotted  to  colleges.  We  cannot 


50  UPPER     SCHOOLS. 

aid  all,  and  to  select  a  few  would  be  injurious.  In  regard  to  elementary 
education  the  Northern,  the  Middle,  and  the  Western  States  are  able 
and  willing  to  do  their  duty.  We  venture  to  propose  that  in  these  the 
unappropriated  lands  be  devoted  to  the  encouragement  of  secondary 
instruction.  Let  each  State  get  its  share,  and  the  money  be  handed 
over  to  it  under  certain  rigid  rules  and  restrictions  to  prevent  the 
abuse  of  the  public  money.  In  particular,  in  order  to  secure  that 
upper  schools  be  endowed  only  where  needed,  we  suggest  that  the 
funds  be  granted  only  when  a  district,  or  it  may  be  a  combination  of 
two  or  more  districts,  has  raised  a  certain  portion,  say  one-half,  of  the 
necessary  funds.  By  this  proviso  the  money  will  be  doubled,  and 
may  be  made  the  means  of  stimulating  the  creation  of  high  schools 
all  over  America.  These  schools  would  aid  colleges  far  more  pow- 
erfully than  a  direct  grant  to  them ;  as  in  fact  the  grand  difficulty 
which  our  colleges  have  to  contend  with  arises  from  the  paucity  of 
schools  fitted  to  prepare  young  men  for  them  with  their  rising  stand- 
ard of  scholarship.  But  we  plead  for  these  upper  schools  not 
merely  as  a  means  of  feeding  colleges,  but  as  fitted  to  give  a  high 
education  in  varied  branches,  literary  and  scientific,  to  a  far  greater 
number  of  young  men  who  do  not  intend  to  go  to  any  higher  insti- 
tutions.* 

These  high  schools,  like  the  elementary  schools,  should  be  open 
to  all  children,  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich.  They  should  be  set  up, 
like  the  German  Gymnasien,  in  convenient  localities,  so  that  all  the 
population  may  have  access  to  them.  They  should  embrace  every 
useful  branch  suited  to  young  men  and  women  under  sixteen  or 
eighteen  years  of  age,  English  Composition,  English  Language,  His- 
tory, Classics,  Modern  Languages,  and  Elementary  Science.  The 
best  scholars  in  our  primary  schools  would  be  drafted  up  to  these 

*  Since  writing  the  above  we  notice  that  Mr.  Hoar  has  introduced  a  Bill  into  Congress, 
allotting  the  sum  to  be  realized  by  the  sale  of  the  unappropriated  lands  to  common  school 
education  in  the  various  States — each  State  receiving  according  to  the  measure  of  the  des- 
titution of  education  within  its  bounds.  We  like  this  measure  in  so  far  as  it  will  send  a 
large  sum  to  promote  common  education  in  the  Southern  States.  Otherwise  we  have  no 
partiality  for  it  Why  should  the  lands  in  the  West  go  to  provide  common  schools  in  the 
Eastern  and  Middle  States  which  ought  to  provide  such  schools  for  themselves  ?  Better 
surely  devote  the  last  gift  which  the  General  Government  may  have  to  give,  to  raise  up  some- 
thing which  will  not  otherwise  be  supplied,  and  to  meet  a  want  felt  in  all  the  States.  We 
confess  to  a  deep  fear  that  the  money  thus  given  to  the  States  will  be  jobbed  and  wasted 
unless  there  be  some  self-acting  check.  The  check  that  we  propose  is  one  often  used  in 
Europe — it  is  to  require  the  States  asking  for  a  grant,  to  raise  an  equal  sum.  This  will  se 
cure  that  the  aid  will  be  asked  only  where  needed  and  that  the  distribution  will  be  care- 
fully looked  after. 


UPPER     SCHOOLS.  51 

higher  schools,  and  thus  the  young  talent  of  the  country  would  be 
turned  to  account,  while  the  teachers  in  the  common  schools  would 
be  encouraged  and  elevated  by  the  advancement  of  their  pupils. 

This  for  the  Northern,  Middle,  and  Western  States.  The  plan 
might  be  modified  for  the  Southern  States,  if  they  wish  it.  There  is 
a  want  there,  as  every  one  knows,  both  of  common  schools  and  of 
high  schools ;  and  this  both  for  the  white  and  colored  population. 
It  is  of  no  use  denying  this.  Nor  are  we  called  to  enter  into  the 
dispute  as  to  whether  the  blame  lies  with  the  republican  or  demo- 
cratic parties,  with  the  whites  or  with  the  blacks.  We  proceed  on 
the  fact  which  will  be  acknowledged  by  all  candid  minds,  that  there 
is  a  lack  of  efficient  schools  over  wride  regions  of  the  South.  It  is 
clear  to  us  that  unless  steps  are  taken,  and  this  immediately,  to  edu- 
cate both  classes,  that  the  South  cannot  prosper,  except  in  a  few 
favorably  situated  cities,  and  that  universal  suffrage  will  turn  out  a 
universal  evil,  embittered  by  a  war  of  races  such  as  they  have  in 
Ireland,  each  race  throwing  the  blame  on  the  other.  Now  it  has 
occurred  to  us  that  these  unappropriated  lands  might  be  used  so  as 
to  confer  a  great  benefit  on  the  South.  In  all  kindness  we  propose 
that  one-half  the  money  allotted  to  Southern  States  should  go,  if  the 
people  wish  it,  to  aid  and  encourage  them  in  establishing  common 
schools,  and  the  other  half  reserved,  as  in  the  Northern  States,  for 
imparting  a  higher  instruction  to  all  who  desire  it. 

We  cannot  close  our  Article  without  saying  something  about  the 
highest  educational  institutions  in  the  country — the  colleges.  We 
are  prepared  to  testify  from  a  pretty  large  acquaintance  with  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  that  to  the  great  body  of  students  the  Ameri- 
can colleges  impart  as  high,  and  certainly  as  useful,  an  education  as 
any  European  university :  as  Oxford  or  Cambridge  ;  as  Edinburgh 
and  the  Scottish  colleges  ;  as  Dublin  and  the  Queen's  Colleges  in 
Ireland  ;  as  Berlin  and  the  great  German  universities,  in  all  of  which 
there  are  fully  as  many  idle  students,  and  fully  as  many  graduating 
with  a  miserably  defective  scholarship,  as  in  the  American  colleges. 
But  it  is  quite  as  true  that  in  the  higher  colleges  of  Europe  they  pro- 
duce a  select  few,  at  most  one-tenth  of  the  whole,  who  have  attained 
a  riper  scholarship,  or  a  riper  culture,  or  who  leave  college  with  a 
more  fixed  determination  to  do  original  work,  literary  or  scientific. 
The  grand  question  for  the  friends  of  American  colleges  to  consider 
at  present  is,  How  may  we  retain  all  the  excellences  we  have  gained 
and  add  to  them  the  special  culture  of  the  great  European  universi- 
ties ? 


52  UPPER     SCHOOLS. 

So  far  as  we  have  noticed,  the  answer  of  the  most  enlightened 
educationalists  in  this  country  is  :  Elevate  the  standard  of  examina- 
tion for  entrance,  raise  the  average  age  of  entrants,  and  thus,  it  is  said, 
you  will  secure  a  higher  scholarship.  But  the  question  arises,  Are  we 
not  in  this  way  running  the  risk  of  losing  some  of  the  advantages  of 
the  American  colleges,  which  have  sent  forth  a  greater  number  of 
well-educated  young  men,  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  into  the  pro- 
fessions and  useful  walks,  than  any  other  colleges  except  the  Scotch? 
We  do  believe  that  in  most  of  our  colleges  there  should  be  a  higher 
entrance  examination.  We  maintain  farther,  and  as  more  important, 
that  the  colleges  should  be  made,  by  public  opinion  brought  to  bear 
upon  them,  to  carry  out  their  own  professed  standard.  Surely  there 
is  pretension,  in  fact  iniquity,  involved  in  a  college  advertising  a  high 
standard  in  its  catalogue  in  order  to  gain  a  character,  and  then  paying 
no  attention  to  it.  Such  a  college  should  be  made  to  feel  that  it  is 
losing  all  character.  But  there  is  a  limit  to  be  set  to  this  elevation 
of  standard,  especially  in  States  in  which  there  are  few  upper  schools. 
We  do  not  believe  that  it  would  be  for  the  good  of  education  so  to 
raise  the  standard  as  to  make  it  impossible  or  difficult  to  enter  col- 
lege till  the  candidate  is  eighteen  or  twenty  years  of  age.  For  observe 
the  necessary  consequence  :  Young  men  would  not  be  ready  to  begin 
even  to  learn  their  professions  till  they  are  twenty-two  or  twenty- 
four.  Is  this  country  ready  to  stand  this  ?  Is  New  York  ready  for 
it  ?  Is  Chicago  ready  for  it  ?  We  believe  such  cities  are  ready  to 
decide,  and  to  proclaim  aloud,  "  If  such  be  your  requirements  we  will 
not  send  our  sons  to  you."  Are  parents,  are  pupils  ready  for  it  any- 
where ?  Can  young  men  afford  to  spend  all  this  time  before  begin- 
ning even  to  learn  the  occupations  by  which  they  are  to  earn  their 
sustenance  ?  The  average  years  of  man's  life  upon  earth  are  said  to 
be  between  thirty  and  forty ;  is  it  right  to  spend  twenty-two  or 
twenty-four  of  these  in  preparation  for  learning,  and  then  three  or 
four  years  more  in  learning  the  business  of  life  ?  Dr.  Barnard  thinks 
he  has  proven  that  the  number  of  young  men  who  go  to  our  colleges, 
in  proportion  to  the  population,  is  diminishing.  Is  there  not  a  risk 
of  a  greater  diminution  ?  But  it  is  said  that  a  boy  is  better  at  an 
academy  till  the  age  of  eighteen  or  twenty  than  at  a  college.  We 
dispute  this.  If  our  schools  were  what  they  should  be,  and  were 
constrained  so  to  be  by  public  opinion,  they  might  have  a  healthy 
young  man  ready  for  college  by  sixteen  or  seventeen  ;  and  one  who 
has  been  all  his  previous  life  at  a  school,  with  its  drill,  needs  about 
this  time  a  change  ;  and  when  he  enters  college,  with  its  greater  free- 


UPPER     SCHOOLS.  53 

dom,  he  has  anew  life  imparted ;  and  when  he  joins  the  junior  class 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  or  nineteen,  he  has  a  still  higher  life  evoked  as 
he  takes  up  the  studies  which  require  independent  thought ;  and  at 
the  age  of  twenty  or  twenty-one,  he  is  ready  to  set  out  to  learn  his 
profession  ere  his  habits  have  become  too  stiff  to  master  what  is  to 
be  his  occupation  for  life.  We  are  sure  that  our  merchants,  our  law- 
yers, our  theological  teachers,  will  tell  you  that  they  would  rather 
have  a  pliable  youth  of  twenty  to  instruct  than  a  confirmed  man  of 
twenty-five,  with  his  ways  all  settled. 

How,  then,  it  is  asked,  do  you  propose  to  gain  the  end  you  reckon 
so  important  ?     Observe  what  is  the  end  :  it  is  to  have  a  few  higher 
minds.     We  say  a  few,  for  we  hold  it  to   be  impossible  to  make  all 
students  great  scholars,  great  mathematicians,  great  .metaphysicians. 
No  college — certainly  not  Oxford,  or  Cambridge,  or  Berlin — has  suc- 
ceeded in  this.     Let  us  keep  what  we  have  got,  and  which  is  so  good. 
Let  us  encourage  the  preparatory  schools  to  send  to   our  Freshman 
classes  young  men  of  the  age  of  sixteen  or  seventeen.     Let  us  give 
them  there  the  four  years  wholesome  instruction   of  the  American 
colleges  to  make  them  all  fair  general  scholars.     In  the  Junior  and  in 
the  Senior  classes  let  us  give  them  a  choice  of  studies  always  along  with 
obligatory  studies.     By  this  time  the  students  themselves  know,  and 
their  instructors  know,  who  are  fitted  to  be  superior  scholars.      Let 
the  ten  per  cent,  or  so,  who  have  the  taste   and   the  talent   go  on  to 
higher  studies,  to  special  studies — as  no  man  in  these  times  can  be  a 
universal  scholar.     Let  him  give  himself  for  a  time  to  philology,  to 
philosophy,  to  social  science,  or  original  research  in  one  or  other  of 
the  various  departments  of  physical  science.     Let  encouragement  be 
given  to  this  by  fellowships  earned  by  competition,  and  held  only  by 
such  as  give  evidence  that  they  are  devoting  themselves  to  the  special 
studies  in  which  they  stood  the  examination.     We  affirm  confidently, 
that  on  such  a  system,  you  will  in  a  few  years  add  all  the  excellences  of 
the  European  to  those  of  the  American  colleges,  and  produce  a  select 
body  of  scholars  fit  to  match  the  first  wranglers  of  Cambridge,  the 
double  first  of  Oxford,  or  the  doctors  of  philosophy  and  the  doctor4? 
of  science  of  the  other  European  universities. 

A  host  of  important  questions  are  here  started,  and  press  them 
selves  on  our  attention,  in  regard  to  the  teaching  in  our  colleges.  In 
the  old  method  every  student  was  required  to  go  through  the  same 
course,  in  which  were  Latin,  Greek,  and  Mathematics,  from  the  first 
year  to  the  last,  and  long  before  the  end  not  a  few  felt  that  they  were 
getting  into  depths  in  which  they  hopelessly  sank  among  obscure 


54  UPPERSCHOOLS. 

classical  authors  and  perplexing  analytical   mathematics,  and  were 
tempted   to  resort   to  copying  at  the  sessional  examinations.     New 
departments  of  learning  put  in  their  claims  to  a  place  in  the  college 
curriculum.     The  applicants  turned  out  to  be  so  numerous  that  they 
could   not  all  be  admitted  without  an  exclusion  of  old  studies.     So 
there  came  to  be  a  conflict  for  a  time  between  the  old  and  the  new 
branches,  and  in  some   colleges  the   new  were   added  while  the  old 
were  retained,  which  laid   a  terrible   pressure  on  the  brain   of  the 
ardent  student,  and   in  the  case  of  the  great  body  ended  in  a  super- 
ficial acquaintance  with  both  the  old  and  the  new.     The  contest  has 
ended  in  many  colleges  in  a  power  of  selection  being  allowed.     We 
are  prepared  to  defend  this  liberty  as  gratifying  tastes  which  ought 
to  be  gratified,  and  securing  scholarship  in  the  branches  for  which  the 
student  has  a  taste.     It  is  often  a  great  relief  to  a  student  after  he 
has  gone   through  the  discipline  of  the  Freshman  and  Sophomore 
classes,  to  be  allowed  to  go  off  the  beaten  tracks  into  paths  chosen  by 
himself.     But  this  privilege  should  be  kept  within  very  stringent  limits. 
First,  students  should  not  be  allowed  to  make  a  choice  till  they  are  able 
to  judge  for  themselves,  which  they  cannot  well  be  till  they  have  mas- 
tered the  fundamental  branches  of  Greek,  Latin,   Mathematics  and 
English,  and  this  is  beyond  their  power  until  the  close  of  the  Sopho- 
more year.  There  is  a  tendency  in  some  colleges,  which  wish  to  acquire 
a  name  for  liberality,  to  allow  the  choice  to  be  made  too  soon,  and  the 
student   enters  on  a  course  of  study,   simply  allured  by   the    easy 
nature  of  the  subject,  or  by  a  popular  professor,  or  quite  as  commonly 
one  who  lets  him  off  easily  at  the  closing  examination  ;  and  he  has 
to  regret  his  folly  and  blame  his  college  ail  his  life  after,  as  he  finds  he 
has  omitted  solid  to  pursue  showy  studies.     Then,  secondly,  certain 
fundamental  branches  should   be  required    of  all  the  students — all 
students,  for  example,  ought  to  be  obliged  to  study  mental  as  well  as 
physical  science.     It  is  only  thus  we  can  secure  comprehensive  knowl- 
edge and  thorough  mental  discipline.     In  some  colleges  there  is  an 
intellectual  dissipation  allowed,  the  effects  of  which  may  not  be  seen 
at  once,  but  which  must  exercise  a  fatal  influence  on  the  rising  gen- 
eration. 

Another  question  has  been  started  by  the  last  report  of  the  Pres- 
ident of  Harvard  College,  who  inquires  whether  obligatory  attend- 
ance upon  u  recitations,  lectures,  and  religious  exercises"  might  not 
be  dispensed  with  in  the  case  of  at  least  the  members  of  the  Senior 
Class.  Every  one  sees  that  if  this  is  allowed  to  the  Senior  Class,  it 
will  soon  be  demanded  by  the  Junior  Class,  and  when  granted  to 


UPPER     SCHOOLS.  55 

iriem  it  must  be  allowed  to  the  Sophomores,  and  in  the  end  must 
become  the  rule  of  the  college.  This  step  is  commended  as  being 
in  accordance  with  the  methods  of  the  best  European  colleges.  We 
are  prepared  to  dispute  this  statement.  In  all  the  good  colleges  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  the  tendency  of  late  years  has  been 
towards  a  weekly  or  even  daily  supervision  of  studies.  In  Germany, 
many  of  the  most  enlightened  educators  are  ready  to  declare  to 
Americans  and  to  Britons  that  they  feel  the  want  of  a  power  of  ex- 
acting recitations  to  keep  the  younger  students  from  idleness  accom- 
panied with  beer-drinking  and  sword-duels.  The  question  is:  Is  it 
right  or  expedient  to  allow  students  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  to  go  to 
college  recitations  or  not  as  they  choose?  We  may  suppose  that  till 
they  enter  college  they  have  been  in  a  kind  home  or  boarding-school, 
where  they  have  been  under  salutary  restraints.  When  first  freed 
from  these  there  is  always  a  risk  of  their  abusing  their  liberty. 
When  they  go  into  a  lawyer's  or  a  merchant's  office  the  restraints 
are  so  far  continued — they  are  required  to  be  at  their  work  certain 
hours  each  day.  Should  there  not  be  like  rules  imposed  on  students 
as  to  their  attendance  at  college  exercises  ?  Every  body  knows  that 
many  young  men  enter  college  without  any  appreciation  of  study  ; 
and  the  college  should  seek  to  give  them  a  taste  for  learning,  and 
this  can  best  be  done  by  requiring  them  to  come  into  daily  contact 
with  kind  and  judicious  instructors.  It  is  only  thus  that  tempta- 
tions to  idleness,  not  to  say  dissipation,  can  be  counteracted  in  places 
where  hundreds  of  young  men  of  all  sorts  of  dispositions  and  predilec- 
tions are  congregated.  The  attendance  need  not  be  felt  to  be  com- 
pulsory any  more  than  the  attendance  of  a  young  man  at  a  business 
office.  It  is  a  thing  expected  of  him,  and  to  which  he  willingly  con- 
forms, provided  doubts  are  not  put  into  his  head  by  those  "  given  to 
change."  Our  thinking  students  will  rather  rejoice  that  they  are  not 
left  to  circumstances  and  momentary  impulses,  but  are  required  to 
attend  to  hours  and  periodically  pressing  duties.  Of  this  we  are 
sure,  that  wise  and  careful  parents  and  guardians  will  be  anxious  to 
find  colleges  furnishing  some  security  that  their  young  men  do  not 
absent  themselves  for  days,  perhaps  weeks,  from  college  exercises, 
without  any  provision  being  made  to  check  or  even  to  notice  it,  or  let 
parents  know  it.  It  is  essentially  a  question  for  parents  to  settle. 
But  the  friends  of  education  in  general  require  to  look  to  it.  For 
another  evil  will  inevitably  follow.  The  instructors  will  content 
themselves,  as  they  do  in  most  institutions  in  which  the  attendance 
at  recitations  is  not  required,  with  giving  lectures  (many  wish  to  be 


56  UPPER     SCHOOLS. 

troubled  with  nothing  more),  and  will  care  little  whether  their  pupils, 
with  whom  they  have  no  intercommunion  of  thought,  receive  bene- 
fit or  not.  It  is  by  a  constant  catechizing,  after  the  manner  of  Soc- 
rates (and  a  greater  than  Socrates),  that  young  men's  powers  are  to 
be  called  into  exercise,  and  knowledge  implanted  in  their  minds — as 
seeds  are  in  the  soil  by  ploughing  and  harrowing.  At  present  it  is 
not  known  whether  the  President  of  Harvard  means  to  execute  his  plan. 
But  it  is  not  the  less  to  be  watched,  lest  some  step  be  taken  which 
cannot  be  retraced. 

We  have  left  ourselves  too  little  space  to  discuss  the  most  impor- 
tant, and  yet  the  most  difficult  subject  of  all,  the  religion  to  be 
taught  in  the  upper  schools  and  colleges.  Where  the  pupils  live 
with  parents  or  guardians  there  is  no  difficulty :  those  placed  over 
them  can  see  to  their  religious  instruction ;  and  the  institution  may 
secure  that  there  be  prayer  for  the  Divine  Blessing,  and  some  cath- 
olic Bible  teaching.  But  it  is  different  where  young  men  have  been 
systematically  separated  from  their  guardians,  and  live  by  them- 
selves, or  in  rooms  in  which  there  is  no  special  care  taken  of  them. 
In  such  institutions  there  is  often  a  difficulty  in  knowing  how  to  act. 
We  here  come  to  the  subject  which  perplexes  those  who  advocate 
state-endowed  colleges.  If  religion  is  left  out,  there  is  an  omission 
of  the  highest  educating  agency,  and  many  parents  will  not  send 
their  boys,  at  the  critical  age,  to  places  where  their  highest  interest  is 
neglected.  If  religion  is  made  a  mere  sham,  if  an  attempt  is  made 
to  mix  all  colors,  the  result  is  a  neutral  hue,  which  has  attractions  to 
nobody,  which  has  no  influence  for  good,  and  may  have  an  influence 
for  evil  by  hypocritically  professing  to  furnish  what  it  has  not  to  give. 
In  all  such  cases  the  churches  of  Christ  have  a  duty  to  discharge 
which  they  have  not  yet  realized.  They  must  do,  what  the  Sunday- 
schools  have  done  in  regard  to  the  elementary  schools ;  they  must 
supply  the  evident  need,  by  securing  in  every  college-town  pastors 
fitted  to  give  religious  instruction  to  the  students,  and  see  that  every 
youth  comes  up  with  a  letter  to  one  of  the  pastors.  Without  this, 
we  shall  have  a  body  of  ungodly  young  men  issuing  from  our  state- 
endowed  colleges,  more  especially  as  in  such  colleges  there  is  com- 
monly a  great  prominence  given  to  physical  science  by  men  inclined 
to  materialism,  and  whose  influence  is  not  counteracted  by  any  effi- 
cient or  acceptable  teaching  in  mental  or  moral  science.  If  religious 
instruction  be  left  out  in  such  places,  or  what  is  more  likely,  given 
only  in  name,  the  consequences  must  be  disastrous,  and  those  who 
countenance  these  colleges  must  bear  the  responsibility. 


UPPER     SCHOOLS.  57 

Even  in  colleges  which  are  denominational,  there  is  a  delicacy  if 
not  a  difficulty  in  imparting  religious  lessons.  On  one  point  no  diffi- 
culty occurs  in  colleges  managed  by  evangelical  bodies.  It  is  under- 
stood that  the  instruction,  while  scriptural,  should  not  be  sectarian. 
Such  is  the  independence,  or  if  you  will,  the  perverseness  of  youth, 
that  denominational  teaching,  while  it  might  gratify  certain  narrow 
spirits  would  rather  have  a  tendency  to  turn  away  our  finer  minds 
from  all  religion.  But  there  are  scarcely  any  colleges  in  America,  in 
which  the  teaching  is  in  any  proper  sense  sectarian.  Still  there  is  a 
difficulty  in  securing  among  a  promiscuous  body  of  young  men,  that 
religion  have  its  proper  place.  We  could  easily  give  a  recipe  for 
making  the  great  body  of  the  brightest  students  in  a  college,  doubt- 
ers, infidels,  or  scoffers.  It  would  not  be  by  appointing  skeptics  as 
teachers — though  this  would  of  course  have  a  bad  influence — but  it 
would  be  by  bringing  in  a  dull  set  of  men  as  professors,  chosen,  not 
because  of  their  learning,  or  their  eminence  in  the  departments  they 
have  to  teach,  but  because  they  are  orthodox  ministers  of  religion, 
who  may  have  failed  as  pastors,  or  are  fit  only  to  be  popular 
preachers.  Let  these  men  in  addition  be  narrow  and  censorious,  let 
them  be  forever  denouncing  Pantheism,  Materialism,  Darwinism,  and 
all  sorts  of  heresies  of  which  they  know  little,  and  we  venture  to  pre 
diet  that  in  a  few  years  they  will  make  the  better  half  of  the  college 
doubters,  or  open  skeptics.  We  know  colleges  both  in  the  old  world 
and  the  new,  where  zealous  patrons  have  secured  this  end  as  effec- 
tively as  if  they  had  been  in  the  pay  of  the  enemy.  Religion  should 
be  taught  in  our  colleges  by  the  ablest  men  in  them,  whose  hearts  as 
well  as  heads  are  in  their  work,  who  are  full,  not  only  of  tolerance 
but  of  tenderness  toward  the  difficulties  of  young  men,  and  who 
draw  them  by  argument,  by  truth  and  by  love,  instead  of  driving 
them  away  by  threats  and  denunciations,  which  of  all  weapons  are 
least  likely  to  have  any  power  with  spirited  and  independent  youths. 


STUDY  OF  THE  GREEK  AND  LATIN 

CLASSICS. 

i 

CHARLES  ELLIOTT,  D.  D. 

THE  tendency  in  the  minds  of  some  to  exalt  the  present  by  de- 
preciating the  past,  has  led  to  false  views  on  many  subjects. 
Among  these  may  be  included  the  study  of  the  Ancient  Classics. 
Carried  away  by  some  favorite  pursuit,  enthusiasts  have  advocated 
their  removal  from  the  course  of  a  liberal  education,  and  the  substi- 
tution of  some  department  of  science  which  they  conceive  to  be  more 
in  accordance  with  the  advancement  and  spirit  of  the  age.  Others 
have  found  in  them  lessons  dangerous  to  morality,  and  have  ex- 
pressed themselves  as  though  they  dreaded,  from  their  use,  the  return 
of  the  ancient  polytheism.  Others,  again,  who  look  at  the  useful,  have 
urged  that  their  study  has  no  tendency  to  fit  a  man  for  the  practical 
duties  of  life  ;  and  have  advocated  not  only  the  exclusion  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Classics  from  a  course  of  mental  training,  but  every 
thing  else,  which  does  not  have  a  direct  practical  bearing.  Practical, 
with  such  men,  means  the  conversion  of  every  thing  that  they  touch 
into  gold  ;  and  because  the  Greek  and  Roman  Classics  do  not  point 
the  way  to  wealth,  they  are  doomed  to  oblivion. 

These  objections  operate  on  many  minds  in  the  community,  and 
damp  the  ardor  of  pursuit  which  many  a  generous  youth  would 
manifest,  were  he  fully  satisfied  in  regard  to  their  utility. 

The  question  of  the  utility  of  any  branch  of  study  depends  upon 
the  decision  of  the  questions,  What  is  the  object  of  education  ?  and 
by  what  means  is  that  object  effected  ?  If  it  be  shown  that  language 
lies  at  the  basis  of  intellectual  culture,  it  will  be  granted  by  every 
one  not  under  the  influence  of  prejudice,  that  the  Latin  and  Greek 
have  as  just  a  claim  as  any  other  to  be  employed  for  the  discipline 
of  the  mind  in  the  department  of  philology. 


STUDY     OF      GREEK      AND      LATIN     CLASSICS.      59 

It  is  not  irrelevant,  therefore,  to  inquire,  at  the  beginning  of  our 
discussion,  into  the  nature  and  object  of  education. 

The  word  education  is  of  Latin  origin.  The  verb  from  which  it 
is  derived  signifies,  in  that  language,  to  foster,  maintain,  bring  up, 
nurture ;  hence,  to  instruct,  train,  form*  We  use  the  term  in  the 
secondary  sense  of  instructing,  training,  forming.  The  word  instruc- 
tion is  generally  used  to  signify  the  imparting  of  knowledge,  which 
is  only  a  condition  and  means  of  education.  The  latter  consists  in 
training,  forming.  It  is  the  harmonious  development  of  the  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  physical  powers  of  man.  Its  end  is  to  fit  him  for 
the  performance  of  the  duties  arising  out  of  his  various  relations,  tc 
perfect  his  whole  being. 

The  mention  of  man  as  an  intellectual,  moral,  and  physical  being, 
presents  to  us  a  complex  idea ;  and  we  can  have  no  adequate  con- 
ception of  what  education  ought  to  be,  unless  we  have  some  correct 
apprehension  of  that  complex  creature.  What,  then,  is  man,  his 
constitution,  his  relations,  and  destiny? 

Man  is  composed  of  soul  and  body.  By  means  of  his  soul  he  is 
allied  to  the  world  of  spirits;  by  means  of  his  body,  to  the  world  of 
matter.  The  mind  is  endowed  with  faculties,  which,  in  their  exer- 
cise, obey  certain  laws  :  the  body  possesses  functions,  some  of  which 
perform  the  parts  allotted  to  them  without  any  volition  on  our  part ; 
others  follow  the  dictates  of  the  immaterial  principle. 

Without  strict  regard  to  metaphysical  analysis,  the  faculties  of 
the  mind  may  be  divided  into  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties, 
and  the  faculty  of  taste.  By  the  first,  we  apprehend  the  abstract 
relations  of  things,  and  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  propositions  ;  by 
the  second,  we  discern  the  moral  quality  of  actions,  and  derive  the 
feeling  of  obligation ;  by  the  third,  we  appreciate  the  beauty  and 
sublimity  of  art  and  of  the  material  world.  The  body  is  the  mere 
instrument  of  perception  and  action,  while,  at  the  same  time,  it 
fo'rms  the  habitation  of  the  spirit. 

But  our  idea  of  man  must  be  very  defective,  if  we  view  him  in 
an  isolated  capacity  only,  and  contemplate  his  faculties  and  high 
endowments  without  reference  to  the  great  spiritual  system  of  which 
he  forms  a  part.  As  a  member  of  such  a  system,  he  is  a  subject  of 
moral  law  administered  by  the  Legislator  of  the  Universe.  This 
law  does  not  view  him  as  an  autoteles — a  being  whose  end  is  himself 
— but  as  a  being  whose  chief  end  is  to  glorify  his  Creator  by  the 

*  It  is  a  mistake  to  derive  the  word  education,  as  many  do,  from  educo,  educerf,  of  the 
third  conjugation.  It  comes  from  educo,  educare,  of  the  first. 


60        STUDY      OF     GREEK     AND      LATIN      CLASSICS. 

highest  cultivation  and  active  employment  of  those  mental  and 
moral  faculties  with  which  he  is  so  munificently  endowed.  It  ought 
not  to  be  his  aim  to  secure  the  greatest  happiness  and  wealth  pos- 
sible for  the  present  term  of  existence,  but  to  fit  himself  for  that 
world  of  which  this  forms  but  the  vestibule.  This  is  his  high  des- 
tiny. In  order  to  accomplish  this  destiny,  things  must  not  be  esti- 
mated according  to  their  present  importance,  but  according  to  their 
influence  on  his  future  well-being.  The  question,  in  regard  to  any 
pursuit,  should  be,  How  will  it  best  promote  that  well-being? — not, 
How  will  it  advance  him  in  wealth  ?  Thus  things  would  assume  their 
proper  positions  and  due  relations. 

The  subject,  then,  to  be  educated,  is  a  being  of  wide  relations, 
and  of  a  destiny  high  as  the  glory  of  the  Highest.  Education  is 
the  instrument  by  which  this  being  is  fitted  for  the  performance 
of  the  duties  arising  out  of  his  relations,  and  assimilated,  in  some 
degree,  to  his  high-born  and  fair  original. 

But  of  education  there  are  two  kinds.  The  one  is  the  education 
of  habits  and  particular  faculties  ;  the  other,  the  development  of 
the  whole  man.  The  former  has  reference  to  some  professional  call- 
ing, and  is  mistaken  by  many  for  true  education.  So  far  is  this  from 
the  truth,  as  a  profound  philologist  has  well  remarked,  the  more  a 
man  is  educated  professionally,  the  less  is  he  educated  as  a  man. 
Unacquainted  with  almost  every  branch  of  study  not  immediately 
connected  with  his  profession,  the  furniture  of  his  mind  is  incom- 
plete. It  resembles  a  room  with  a  beautiful  finish  and  costly  paint- 
ings on  one  wall,  and  with  nothing  but  raw  plaster  on  the  other. 
The  mental  development  of  such  a  man  has  no  harmony,  no  symme- 
try of  parts. 

True  education,  in  its  largest  sense,  is  the  development  of  the 
whole  man,  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral.  It  does  not  consist  in 
Spartan  exercises  to  fit  one  for  successful  rivalry  in  field-games  and 
for  high  achievements  in  battle.  It  does  not  consist  in  training  the 
memory  at  the  expense  of  the  judgment,  nor  in  cultivating  the 
esthetic  part  of  our  nature  to  the  neglect  of  the  intellectual ;  nor 
does  it  admit  of  developing  the  intellect  without  an  attempt  at  a 
corresponding  development  of  the  moral  powers  ;  but  it  consists  in 
the  training  and  culture  of  all  these,  in  presenting  in  one  glow  of 
associated  beauty  all  the  faculties  of  body  and  soul. 

In  this  development  education  can  employ  no  one  instrument. 
There  must  be  a  system  of  means  based  upon  a  correct  and  philo- 
sophical view  of  the  work  to  be  performed.  This  work,  in  mental 


STUDY     OF     GREEK     AND      LATIN     CLASSICS.       61 

culture,  is  to  teach  the  mind  how  to  use  its  faculties,  how  to  reason 
correctly  on  any  subject  proposed  for  its  consideration. 

The  method  of  the  mind  in  reasoning  is  twofold,  analysis  and 
synthesis,  or  induction  and  deduction.  The  relations  out  of  which 
all  science  is  made  up  are  also  twofold — law  and  observation.  A  law 
is  a  rule  of  unconditional  truth  arrived  at  by  the  generalization  of 
facts.  These  facts  become  matters  of  knowledge  by  observation. 

"  When  we  reason  from  the  facts  to  the  law,  we  call  it  analysis,  or  induction  ; 
when  we  reason  from  law  to  law,  when  from  a  known  truth  we  seek  to  establish  an 
unknown  truth,  we  call  it  deduction,  or  synthesis.  As,  then,  all  science  is  made  up 
of  law  and  observation,  of  the  idea  and  the  facts,  so  all  scientific  reasoning  is  either 
induction  or  deduction.  It  is  not  possible,  however,  to  teach  inductive  reasoning,  or 
even  to  cultivate  a  habit  of  it  directly.  We  all  reason  inductively  every  moment  of 
our  lives,  but  to  reason  inductively  for  the  purposes  of  science  belongs  only  to  those 
whose  minds  are  so  constituted  that  they  can  see  the  resemblances  in  things  which 
other  men  think  unlike  ;  in  short,  to  those  who  have  powers  of  original  combina- 
tion, and  whom  we  term  men  of  genius.  If,  therefore,  we  can  impart  by  teaching 
deductive  habits,  education  will  have  done  its  utmost  towards  the  discipline  of  the 
reasoning  faculties.  When  we  speak  of  laws  and  ideas,  we  must  not  be  understood 
as  wishing  to  imply  any  thing  more  than  general  terms  arrived  at  by  real  classifi- 
cation. About  these  general  terms  and  these  alone  is  deductive  reason  conversant, 
so  that  the  method  of  mind,  which  is  the  object  of  education,  is  nothing  but  the 
method  of  language.  Hence,  if  there  is  any  way  of  imparting  to  the  mind  deduc- 
tive habits,  it  must  be  by  teaching  the  method  of  language,  and  this  discipline  has 
in  fact  been  adopted  in  all  the  more  enlightened  periods  of  the  existence  of  man. 
It  will  be  remembered,  in  this  method  of  language,  it  is  not  the  words,  but  the 
arrangement  of  them,  which  is  the  object  of  study,  and  thus  the  method  of  language 
is  independent  of  the  conventional  significations  of  particular  words  :  it  is  of  no 
country  and  of  no  age,  but  is  as  universal  as  the  general  mind  of  man.  For  these 
reasons  we  assert  that  the  method  of  language,  one  of  the  branches  of  philology, 
must  always  be,  as  it  has  been,  the  basis  of  education,  or  humanity  as  such,  that  is, 
of  the  discipline  of  the  human  mind."  * 

Language,  moreover,  is  the  instrument  of  thought :  it  forms  the 
medium  of  communication  between  one  mind  and  another ;  it  is 
important,  then,  that  the  instrument  be  skillfully  handled,  that  the 
medium  be  clear  and  unobstructed  as  possible.  But  this  can  only 
be  accomplished  by  a  careful  study  of  the  nature  and  powers  of  the 
instrument  itself. 

All  this  may  be  admitted,  and  still  it  may  be  asked,  What  bear- 
ing has  it  upon  the  study  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Classics  ?  Why 
may  not  a  modern  language,  such  as  the  English,  the  German,  or  the 
French,  accomplish  all  the  ends  of  philological  training? 

*  Donaldson's  New  Cratylus,  pp.  7,  8,  Cambridge. 


62        STUDY      OF      GREEK      AND      LATIN      CLASSICS. 

A  dead  language,  the  phenomena  of  which  are  fixed,  has  a 
decided  advantage  over  a  living  one,  which  is  subject  to  perpetual 
change.  Its  permanence  of  form  affords  us  better  opportunities  for 
philological  anatomy,  and  for  gaining  fixed  ideas  of  the  general  anal- 
ogy of  language.  Of  all  dead  languages,  the  Latin  and  the  Greek, 
with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  the  Sanscrit,  have  attained  to  the 
greatest  perfection  of  grammatical  structure,  and  to  the  highest 
degree  of  literary  culture.  No  dead  language  possesses  a  literature 
so  rich  and  varied  as  those  of  Greece  and  Rome.  These,  then,  are 
sufficient  reasons  for  choosing  a  language,  or  languages,  which  we 
find  crystallized  in  symmetry  and  beauty,  in  preference  to  a  living 
one,  which  is  sometimes  advancing,  sometimes  retrograding;  which 
is  modified  by  local  customs,  manners,  tastes,  and  habits,  and  changes 
its  form  with  the  progress  or  revolutions  of  society. 

It  will  scarcely  be  asked,  why  any  other  dead  language,  for  ex- 
ample the  Hebrew,  against  the  literature  of  which  exist  no  objec- 
tions, may  not  be  selected  as  well  as  the  Latin  and  Greek.  Apart 
from  other  reasons  that  might  be  assigned,  the  following  is  sufficient : 
The  cultivated  taste  of  all  ages  has  preferred  the  Latin  and  the 
Greek,  just  as  it  has  preferred  the  painting  of  Apelles  and  the 
statuary  of  Phidias  and  Praxiteles  to  the  rude  designs  and  clumsy 
execution  of  their  barbarian  neighbors.  If  any  think  this  statement 
disparaging  to  a  language  which  has  preserved  to  us  the  writings  of 
inspired  poets  and  prophets,  let  them  remember  that  the  Greek  was 
equally  honored  as  the  vehicle  of  apostolic  teaching,  and  that  both 
it  and  the  Latin  are  as  much  the  gift  of  God  as  the  language  of 
Moses. 

Having  shown  that  the  study  of  philology  lies  at  the  basis  of 
intellectual  training,  that  a  dead  language  is  preferable  for  this  pur- 
pose to  a  living  one,  and  that  among  the  dead  languages  the  Greek 
and  the  Latin  have  superior  claims,  it  will  be  necessary  to  show  the 
particular  manner  in  which  the  study  of  the  Classics  disciplines  the 
mind,  and  that  it  can  not,  with  advantage,  be  superseded  by  any 
thing  else. 

Suppose,  then,  a  student  with  his  Virgil  or  his  Homer  before 
him.  What  is  the  task  proposed  ?  It  is  manifestly,  in  the  first 
place,  to  arrive  at  the  meaning  of  his  author.  In  doing  this  he 
makes  himself  acquainted  with  the  significations  of  particular  words. 
He  next  so  arranges  these  words,  according  to  their  dependence  and 
agreement,  as  to  make  a  consistent  sense.  To  do  this  successfully 
there  is  required  the  exercise  of  various  faculties.  Memory  is 


STUDY      OF      GREEK     AND      LATIN      CLASSICS.      63 

employed  in  remembering  the  significations  of  words  ;  comparison  is 
exercised  in  observing  their  relations  and  agreement ;  and  judgment, 
in  applying  the  principles  of  grammar.  But  the  exercise  does  not 
end  here.  If  the  student  is  faithful,  he  will  cultivate  his  taste  in 
selecting  the  happiest  and  most  appropriate  expressions  of  his  own 
language,  in  which  to  clothe  the  sense  of  the  original:  he  will  mark 
the  differences  of  idiom,  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  geograph- 
ical and  historical  facts  connected  with  his  subject,  and  inform  him- 
self with  regard  to  every  allusion  to  political,  social,  and  domestic 
life.  The  study  of  the  Classics,  if  properly  pursued,  is  not  the  mere 
memorizing  of  words,  declension  of  nouns,  conjugation  of  verbs,  and 
the  application  of  rules  for  the  agreement  and  government  of  words; 
but  it  is  the  exercise  of  memory,  reason,  judgment,  and  taste.  In 
separating  sentences  into  their  elementary  parts,  the  mind  goes 
through  a  process  of  analysis  ;  in  combining  these  parts  according 
to  the  principles  of  syntactical  structure,  recourse  is  had  to  the 
opposite  process  of  synthesis  ;  and  in  thoroughly  comprehending  the 
subject,  contribution  is  laid  on  almost  every  department  of  human 
knowledge. 

A  pertinent  illustration  of  the  point  under  consideration  may  be 
derived  from  the  study  of  the  English  Classics.  To  understand 
Milton,  for  example,  requires  not  only  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
English  language,  but  also  of  mythology,  theological  opinions,  and 
many  other  subjects.  When  he  speaks  of  that 

"Crystalline  sphere 
Whose  balance  weigh' d  the  trepidation  talk'd," 

he  becomes  altogether  unintelligible  to  the  reader,  unless  he  have 
some  knowledge  of  the  Ptolemaic  system  of  astronomy  ;  and  without 
some  acquaintance  with  the  diseases  of  the  eyes,  obscurity  must  rest 
upon  the  passage  in  which,  referring  to  his  blindness,  he  says : 

"  So  thick  a  drop  serene  hath  quench'd  their  orbs, 
Or  dim  suffusion  veil'd." 

There  is  a  higher  exercise  in  studying  the  Ancient  Classics  than 
any  which  has  yet  been  mentioned.  In  them  we  have  some  of  the 
greatest  productions  of  the  human  mind.  The  fountains  of  history, 
the  wells  of  poesy,  the  highest  efforts  of  oratory,  the  most  subtile 
disquisitions  of  philosophy  are  there.  They  require,  therefore,  the 
application  of  logic  and  criticism.  But  to  analyze  the  structure  of 
arguments,  to  trace  the  affinities  of  thought,  and  to  apply  the  prin- 
ciples of  taste  is  the  highest  walk  of  mind,  and  all  this  a  thorough 


64      STUDY      OF      GREEK      AND      LATIN      CLASSICS. 

and  comprehensive  study  of  the  Classics  requires.  The  instances  are 
very  rare  in  which  all  this  is  fully  done  during  a  collegiate  course. 
The  most  that  we  can  expect  to  be  accomplished  there,  is  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  higher  acquisitions. 

The  classical  languages,  as  an  instrument  of  intellectual  develop- 
ment, can  not,  with  advantage,  be  superseded  by  any  thing  else.  No 
one  has  advocated  the  appropriation  of  more  time  to  the  study  of 
the  mental  and  moral  sciences  as  an  equivalent ;  for  a  proper  under- 
standing of  these  is  so  closely  connected  with  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  language  that  little  progress  can  be  made  in  them  without  it. 
The  comparative  merits  of  a  living  and  a  dead  language  have  already 
been  briefly  alluded  to  :  it  only  remains,  therefore,  to  consider  the 
propriety  of  substituting  a  more  extended  course  of  Mathematics, 
or  of  the  Natural  Sciences. 

Let  a  more  extensive  course  of  Mathematics  be  substituted.  In 
some  respects,  as  an  instrument  of  education,  they  are  superior  to 
the  Classics.  They  accustom  the  student  to  patient  attention,  con- 
centration of  mind,  and  consecutive  thought :  they  impart  a  habit 
of  precision  and  logical  deduction  to  a  degree  which  nothing  else 
can  accomplish  ;  but  by  carrying  the  pupil  into  the  regions  of  cold 
abstraction,  they  chill  the  aspirations  of  fancy  and  fetter  the  play 
of  the  imagination.  The  reasoning  employed  in  Mathematics,  more- 
over, is  not  drawn  from  such  a  variety  of  sources  as  the  reasoning 
required  in  the  study  of  languages.  The  mathematician  sets  out 
with  a  few  axioms  and  definitions,  and  his  whole  process  consists  in 
deducing  ultimate  or  unknown  truths  from  such  as  are  obvious,  or 
based  upon  previous  demonstration.  The  principal  faculties  employed 
in  such  a  process  are  memory,  comparison,  and  judgment ;  and  these 
are  confined  to  a  narrow,  rigorously  bounded  field.  Within  that  field 
they  are  trained  to  the  eagle's  quickness  and  penetration  of  vision. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  student  of  languages,  who  has  his 
author,  grammar,  and  dictionary.  But  in  conducting  their  respective 
processes  a  great  difference  will  be  observed.  The  mathematician 
deals  only  with  the  relations  of  number  and  quantity  :  the  student 
of  languages  deals  with  the  significations  of  words,  their  relative 
position  in  a  sentence,  the  selection  of  such  terms  as  will  best  express 
the  idea,  with  grammar,  context,  geography,  history,  and  archaeology. 
It  will  be  readily  perceived,  therefore,  that  in  the  study  of  languages 
a  greater  variety  of  faculties  will  be  called  into  exercise  than  in  the 
study  of  mathematics ;  or  that,  at  least,  the  same  faculties  will  have 
a  wider  exercise 


STUDY      OF     GREEK     AND      LATIN     CLASSICS.      65 

The  demonstrative  character  of  mathematical  reasoning,  which  is 
one  of  its  excellences,  has  not  the  happiest  influence  upon  the  mind 
of  the  mere  mathematician,  when  moral  subjects  are  presented  for 
his  consideration.  Accustomed  to  his  incontrovertible  axioms,  his 
exact  definitions,  and  infallible  conclusions,  he  looks  for  the  same  in 
moral  questions.  But  they  are  not  to  be  found ;  and  if  he  does  not 
turn  skeptic,  it  can  not  be  said  that  his  mathematics  saved  him.  On 
moral  subjects,  the  student  of  language,  other  things  being  equal, 
has  the  advantage.  All  his  reasoning  in  that  department  has  been 
of  the  probable  kind  ;  and  consequently  he  is  better  prepared  to 
appreciate  the  evidence  and  reasoning  employed  in  moral  sub- 
jects. 

To  those  who  advocate  the  substitution  of  a  more  extended  course 
of  the  Natural  Sciences  for  the  study  of  the  Ancient  Classics,  the 
following  considerations  are  submitted.  They  cannot  accomplish 
their  own  purposes,  together  with  those  to  be  accomplished  by  the 
study  of  languages.  Their  relation  to  the  mind  is  different ;  and  it 
is  important  that  every  science  should  be  considered  in  its  relation 
to  the  mind,  before  the  arrangement  best  fitted  to  develop  the  men- 
tal faculties  can  be  determined.  All  science  is  in  the  mind,  and  its. 
method  is  the  same  in  every  department ;  but  each  particular  science 
has  objects  peculiar  to  itself,  and  differs  from  another,  in  its  relation 
to  the  mind,  according  to  the  nature  of  its  objects.  The  objects  of 
Natural  Science  are  the  phenomena  and  laws  of  the  material  uni- 
verse. To  observe,  collect,  experiment  upon,  and  classify  these  phe- 
nomena are  the  mental  acts  and  processes  employed  in  its  pursuit. 
By  such  acts  and  processes  inquisitiveness  is  awakened,  the  faculty 
of  observation  is  cultivated,  and  habits  of  close  attention  are  formed  ; 
but  it  seems  to  us  that  reflective  habits  are  not  cultivated  to  a  cor- 
responding degree.  Where  the  external  occupies  so  large  a  space  in. 
the  mental  vision,  the  internal  must  dwindle  into  comparatively 
small  dimensions. 

To  form  the  mind  to  reflective  habits  and  give  it  vigor  and  tone,, 
it  is  necessary  to  throw  it  back  upon  itself,  to  observe  its  ever-varying 
phenomena,  and  to  analyze  its  complex  operations  and  emotions. 
Now  these  are  found  objectively  in  language. 

"  We  find  in  the  internal  mechanism  of  language  the  exact  counterpart  of  the 
mental  phenomena,  which  writers  on  psychology  have  so  carefully  collected  and 
classified.  We  find  that  the  structure  of  human  speech  is  the  perfect  image  or 
reflex  of  what  we  know  of  the  organization  of  the  mind  ;  the  same  description,  the 
same  arrangement  of  particulars,  the  same  nomenclature  would  apply  to  both  ami 

'' 


66     STUDYOF     GREEK     AND      LATIN      CLASSICS. 

we  might  turn  a  treatise  on  the  philosophy  of  mind  into  one  on  the  philosophy  of 
language  by  merely  supposing  that  every  thing  said  in  the  former  of  the  thoughts  as 
subjective,  is  said  again  in  the  latter  of  the  words  as  objective."  * 

The  study  of  the  Natural  Sciences  can  not  give  the  same  kind  of 
discipline  only ;  but  it  can  not  give  the  same  amount  that  the  study 
of  the  Classics  can. 

These  sciences  may  be  taught  in  two  ways,  either  systematically 
and  in  their  full  extent,  or  merely  in  outline  and  so  as  to  convey 
some  idea  of  their  objects  and  leading  principles.  If  they  are  taught 
in  the  former  way,  they  are  much  too  laborious  as  a  mental  discipline 
for  the  general  student  ;  if  in  the  latter,  they  will  have  very  little 
effect  in  cultivating  the  mind.  On  the  contrary,  in  a  majority  of 
instances,  they  will  lead  to  a  dissipation  of  time  and  talents,  unless 
pursued  with  other  studies  that  require  severer  application. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  detract  from  the  merit  of  the  Physi- 
cal Sciences.  They  form  a  noble  study,  well  adapted  to  enlarge  the 
mind  and  give  it  comprehensive  views  of  the  system  of  things.  But 
it  will  scarcely  be  urged  that  the  study  of  them  can  accomplish  all 
their  own  ends,  together  with  those  of  the  study  of  language.  And 
here  it  may  be  of  importance  to  remark,  that  the  experience  of 
instructors  generally  has  been  that  those  students  who  have  devoted 
themselves  exclusively  to  the  study  of  the  Physical  Sciences  have 
made  slower  progress  than  those  who  have  combined  with  them  the 
study  of  the  Classics.  The  remark  has  been  attributed  to  Prof. 
Dugald  Stewart,  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  that  the  most  suc- 
cessful students  in  his  department  were  those  who  had  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  Latin  and  the  Greek. 

Some  may  plead  the  ennobling  influence  of  Natural  Science.  In 
every  department  it  displays  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Crea- 
tor. If  studied  with  a  right  spirit,  this  is  true.  Yet,  in  Physical 
Science,  the  mind  deals  with  matter  alone,  its  properties  and  laws. 
In  the  Classics  we  can  read  the  lessons  of  Divine  Providence.  We 
can  hold  communion  with  the  spirits  of  the  mighty  dead,  stand  with 
Demosthenes  on  the  Bema  at  the  Pnyx,  walk  the  groves  of  the 
Academy  with  the  celebrated  philosophers  of  antiquity,  follow  Cicero 
into  the  Senate  and  listen  to  his  soul-stirring  eloquence,  and  thus 
form  a  sympathy  with  mankind.  And  this  sympathy  who  would 
exchange  for  all  the  emotions  which  the  beautiful  and  sublime  in 
nature  can  produce  ?  In  the  words  of  a  Latin  dramatist : 

"  Humani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto." 
*  Donaldson's  New  Cratylus,  p.  44,  Cambridge. 


STUDY      OF      GREEK      AND      LATIN      CLASSICS.      67 

The  judgment  of  the  most  cultivated  nations  of  modern  times 
has  been  and  is  still  in  conformity  with  the  views  that  have  been  ex 
pressed.  The  study  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  Classics  was  introduced 
into  the  system  of  liberal  education  which  was  adopted  at  the  resto- 
ration of  learning  in  Europe ;  and  the  experience  of  its  benefits  has 
secured  its  continuance.  The  Classics  of  Greece  and  Rome  were 
included,  in  the  schools,  colleges,  and  universities  of  modern  Europe, 
among  those  branches  of  study  which  they  termed  the  "humanities" 
or  "  litercz  humaniores  ;  "  and  in  the  Scotch  universities  the  professor 
of  Latin  is  still  styled  "  Professor  of  Humanity."  This  appellation 
is  a  proof  that  the  founders  of  the  modern  system  of  education  con- 
sidered the  classical  writers  as  the  teachers  of  the  civilized  world. 
They  form  a  common  bond,  which  unites  the  cultivated  minds  of  all 
nations  and  ages  together. 

Some  have  condemned  the  study  of  the  Classics  on  the  ground 
of  morality.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  hold  them  up  as  models  of 
moral  teaching,  or  to  encourage  an  indiscriminate  imitation  of  the 
sages  of  antiquity.  Even  under  the  benign,  elevating,  and  sanctify- 
ing influences  of  Christianity,  human  virtue  is  too  often  found  of  a 
defective,  weak,  and  stinted  growth  :  how  much  more  may  we  expect 
this  tc  have  been  the  case  among  those  "who  changed  the  glory  of 
the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image  made  like  to  corruptible  man, 
and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping  things !  "  The  only 
pure  morality  is  found  in  the  pages  of  inspiration  :  the  only  perfect 
model  of  virtue  in  the  Founder  of  Christianity  ;  and  next  to  Him,  in 
those  who  believe  His  doctrines,  obey  His  precepts,  and  imitate  His 
example.  Yet  among  some  of  the  ancient  heathen  there  was  much 
that  was  noble  and  elevated  in  character.  We  meet  everywhere  on 
the  classic  page  with  examples  of  devoted  friendship,  filial  piety, 
reverence  for  the  gods,  unbending  fidelity,  self-sacrificing  patriotism, 
and  magnanimity.  These  virtues  are  commended  and  their  opposites 
condemned.  This  demonstrates  to  us  the  supremacy  of  conscience 
and  the  universality  of  moral  distinctions.  It  is  known  by  all  who 
have  paid  any  attention  to  moral  science,  that  a  variety  of  opinions 
has  existed  concerning  the  theory  of  conscience — some  holding  the 
doctrine  that  it  is  a  part  of  our  original  constitution,  and  others  that 
it  is  the  result  of  education.  Now,  to  a  careful  reader  of  the  Classics 
nothing  is  more  obvious  than  the  use  of  terms  expressive  of  moral 
distinctions — distinctions  founded,  not  upon  legislation  nor  upon 
established  custom,  but  referring  to  something  absolute  and  immu- 
table above  and  beyond  man.  They  perceived  these  distinctions 


68      STUDY      OF      GREEK   'AND      LATIN      CLASSICS. 

and  felt  and  obeyed  the  impulses  of  conscience,  though  at  variance 
with  the  examples  of  the  deities  whom  they  worshiped.  Their  gods 
were  monsters  of  wickedness ;  but  vice,  armed  with  their  authority, 
"  found  in  the  heart  of  man  a  moral  instinct  to  repel  her.  The  con- 
tinence  of  Xenocrates  was  admired  by  those  who  celebrated  the 
debaucheries  of  Jupiter.  The  chaste  Lucretia  adored  the  unchaste 
Venus."  These  examples  afford  an  illustration  of  the  following 
passage,  written  by  an  inspired  apostle :  *'  For  when  the  Gentiles, 
which  have  not  the  law,  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the 
law,  these  having  not  the  law  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  which  show 
the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts." 

The  best  method  of  teaching  youth  morality,  is  not  by  argu 
ments,  rules,  and  demonstrations,  but  by  examples,  by  sentiments 
that  ennoble  and  elevate  the  heart.  Such  examples,  we  have  already 
stated,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Classics.  Socrates  was  patient  and  for- 
bearing, ardently  devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  his  fellow-men, 
according  to  the  light  he  enjoyed  ;  Xenophon  was  an  example  of 
modesty  ;  and  Plato,  who  acquired  the  epithet  divine,  displayed  as 
much  humility  as  many  of  his  philosophic  successors.  Among  the 
Romans,  we  have  the  simple  republican  manners  of  Cincinnatus, 
the  unshaken  constancy  of  Fabricius,  the  self-denying  patriotism  of 
Regulus,  and  the  stern  virtue  of  Cato  denouncing  the  luxury  and 
stemming  the  corruption  of  his  age.  These  examples  come  down 
to  us  venerable  by  their  antiquity,  and  on  that  account  more  effica- 
cious. The  examples  of  virtue  among  the  moderns  are  so  near  to 
us  and  so  much  more  familiar,  that  we  are  liable  to  look  upon  them 
in  connection  with  their  vices.  Examples,  that  are  constantly  occur- 
ring around  us,  may  be  equally  brilliant  ;  but,  like  the  light  of  the 
sun,  which  immediately  surrounds  us,  they  are  obscured  by  floating 
dust,  whereas,  if  we  look  to  a  distance,  the  particles  of  dust  disap- 
pear, and  we  see,  or  we  imagine  that  we  see,  the  pure,  unadulterated 
beam.  Here,  as  in  natural  scenery,  "  distance  lends  enchantment  to 
the  view." 

From  examples  it  would  be  interesting  to  turn  to  the  moral  pre- 
cepts transmitted  to  us  in  the  Classics— precepts  referring  to  civil, 
social,  and  religious  duties.  But  we  will  omit  these  for  the  conside- 
ration of  a  more  important  point,  at  least  a  point  of  greater  practical 
importance  to  the  present  age. 

Classical  studies  furnish  an  antidote  against  the  materialistic  and 
materializing  philosophy  of  the  present  day,  promoted  by  a  too 
exclusive  devotion  to  the  Natural  Sciences,  and  thus  indirectly  aid 


STUDY     OF      GREEK     AND      LATIN      CLASSICS.      69 

the  cause  of  morality  and  religion.  Certain  scientists  are  loud  in 
their  demand  for  things  instead  of  words,  as  if  words,  and  the  ideas 
which  they  represent,  were  not  things,  and  the  most  permanent 
things.  The  temples  and  sphinxes  of  Egypt  are  dumb,  and  leave  us 
in  ignorance  of  the  past ;  but  her  hieroglyphics  speak :  her  recorded 
words  are  the  expositors  of  her  antiquities. 

This  materialistic  philosophy  sees  nothing  practical  nor  useful, 
except  in  ores  and  metals,  cubes  and  squares,  gases  and  imponderable 
agents.  It  has  a  good  representative  in 

"  Mammon,  the  least  erected  spirit  that  fell 
From  heaven :  for  even  in  heaven  his  looks  and  thoughts 
Were  always  downwards  bent ;  admiring  more 
The  riches  of  heaven's  pavement,  trodden  gold, 
Than  aught  divine  or  holy  else,  enjoy'd 
In  vision  beatific." 

And  with  great  skill  does  the  poet  make  him  the  leader  of  the  fallen 
angels  to  "a  hill"  from  which  they  "digged  out  ribs  of  gold." 

Low  utilitarianism  is  always  thinking  about  digging  gold  ;  and  it 
would  convert  every  thing  into  a  spade  or  pickax  for  that  purpose. 
Such  a  one-sided  and  groveling  philosophy  must  be  opposed  by  one 
more  comprehensive,  elevated,  and  spiritual ;  and  one  of  the  best 
auxiliaries  to  such  a  philosophy  is  a  broad  classical  culture.  Men 
must  be  taught  that  whatever  awakens  noble  thoughts  and  influences 
the  heart  for  good  is  useful  and  practical ;  that  the  most  necessary 
branches  of  knowledge  are  not,  on  that  account,  the  most  intrinsically 
valuable.  Iron  is  used  in  a  greater  variety  of  ways  than  gold  :  it 
is  more  useful,  but  does  not  have  more  intrinsic  value.  Cotton  is 
more  generally  used  than  silk :  it  is  more  useful,  but  it  is  not  more 
valuable.  Charcoal  is  more  in  demand  than  diamonds  ;  but  dia- 
monds are  more  precious.  We  live  in  a  world  in  which  labor  is 
required  to  feed  and  clothe  ourselves,  and  for  this  purpose  acquaint- 
ance with  certain  branches  of  science  is  necessary  ;  but  those  branches, 
though  of  necessity  more  generally  studied  than  others,  are  not 
higher  in  the  scale  of  dignity .  they  are  not  of  more  intrinsic  value. 
Arithmetic  is  not  higher  than  Calculus  ;  Geography  than  Astronomy  ; 
nor  Chemistry  than  Metaphysics  and  Moral  Philosophy.  House- 
and-sign  painting  is  not  equal  in  dignity  to  landscape  painting  ;  nor 
is  the  study  of  Botany  so  elevated  a  walk  of  mind  as  that  of  language 
or  poetry.  Every  one,  of  course,  can  not  be  expected  to  study  Latin 
and  Greek,  the  higher  Mathematics  and  Metaphysics,  literary  criti- 
cism and  poetry  ;  but  they  are  not,  on  that  account,  to  be  considered 


70      STUDY      OF     GREEK     AND      LATIN      CLASSICS. 

useless  and  unworthy  of  the  attention  of  the  human  mind  ;  and  it 
must  not  be  imagined  that  other  things,  that  relate  more  immediately 
to  our  present  wants,  can  be  substituted  for  them,  and  equally 
accomplish  the  same  ends.  This  is  the  fanatical  raving  of  a  short- 
sighted, purblind  philosophy,  which  can  see  neither  beauty  nor 
excellence  in  any  thing  that  lies  beyond  the  narrow  circle  that  it  has 
marked  out  for  itself.  Its  views  are  all  directed  to  some  particular 
result,  and  with  such  intensity  that  it  can  see  nothing  else.  It  is 
wedded  to  a  single  idea,  and  all  other  ideas  are  discarded,  out  of 
respect  to  its  favorite  one. 

The  devotees  of  such  a  philosophy  say,  with  Bacon,  we  want 
fruit :  the  object  of  all  philosophy  is  fruit.  Bacon  did  not  mean,  by 
fruit,  crab-apples  alone,  nor  pears  nor  peaches  alone  ;  but  he  meant 
all  the  rich  variety  that  nature  yields.  Without  figure,  he  meant  all 
the  legitimate  results  of  literary  research  and  intellectual  investiga- 
tion :  he  meant  the  fruit  which  our  intellectual  faculties  are  designed 
to  produce.  In  the  estimation  of  that  philosopher,  the  Bread-and- 
Butter  Sciences,  as  they  are  styled  by  the  Germans,  are  not  the  only 
useful  sciences.  "  Man  doth  not  live  by  bread  only." 

Vivere 

Non  esse  solum  vesci  aethere, 
Sed  laude  virtutisque  fructtt 
Egregiam  satiate  mentem. 


THE   UNIVERSITY  SYSTEM  IN  ITALY. 

SINCE,  after  five  hundred  years  of  silence  in  his  tomb  at  Arqua, 
the  spirit  of  the  most  distinguished  man  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury is  revived  in  these  glorious  days  of  Italian  history,  it  is  proper  to 
begin  this  brief  study  with  the  name  of  Francisco  Petrarch,  who,  for 
being  the  precursor  of  modern  civilization,  and  having  risen  superior 
to  medieval  prejudices,  deserves  to  be  called  the  foremost  genius  of 
modern  times. 

He  studied  law  at  Montpellier  and  at  the  University  of  Bologna; 
and  while  yet  a  student,  his  penetrating  genius  had  detected  the  ease 
with  which  doctors'  degrees  were  at  that  time  won  and  conferred.  In 
one  of  his  juvenile  letters,  he  writes  : 

"  A  young  blockhead  arrives  at  the  sanctuary  of  learning ;  his  masters  praise 
and  magnify  him  ;  his  parents  and  friends  applaud  him.  He  receives  his  degree, 
ascends  the  rostrum,  immediately  looks  down  with  contempt  on  all  beneath  him, 
and  murmurs  confusedly  to  himself,  I  know  not  what.  Then  the  seniors  laud  him 
to  the  skies,  as  if  he  had  spoken  divinely ;  and  amid  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the 
blowing  of  trumpets,  the  youth  is  embraced,  and  invested  with  the  round  black  cap. 
At  the  conclusion  of  this  ceremony,  he  who  ascends  the  rostrum  a  fool,  descends  it  a 
wise  man ;  a  miraculous  metamorphosis  which  even  Ovid  could  scarcely  have 
imagined."* 

We  are  not  a  little  mortified  in  being  obliged  to  acknowledge  that, 
after  the  lapse  of  five  centuries  and  a  half  since  this  just  satire  was 
written,  the  majority  of  doctors  continue  to  be  created  in  a  like  man- 
ner. That  which  is  lacking  in  very  young  countries,  and  which  is  a 
great  incentive  for  good,  namely,  a  glorious  past,  is  in  Italy  entirely 
superseded  by  prejudices.  The  Italians  of  the  present  day  undoubt- 
edly feel  the  necessity  for  progress,  and  moreover,  exert  themselves 
occasionally  to  infuse  some  new  life  into  their  universities,  but  even 
they  attribute  their  faulft  to  their  origin.  They  were  born  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  therefore  to  the  Middle  Ages  belong  all  their  imper- 
fect and  vicious  ordinances.  When  in  the  midst  of  the  gloom  of 
medieval  barbarism,  the  universities  and  the  convents  were  the  only 
footholds  of  civilization  which  remained,  they  at  one  time  certainly 

*  Petrarch.  Epist.  FamiL,  i.,  6. 


72  THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY. 

rendered  immense  services ;  in  regno  ccecorum  monoculus  est  rex;  but 
now  that  all  can  see,  or  rather,  since  all  have  their  eyes  wide  open, 
the  one-eyed  class  have  a  position  entirely  opposed  to  that  they 
formerly  occupied,  and  instead  of  pointing  out  the  way  to  others, 
stand  in  need  of  guidance  themselves.  The  Italian  universities  were 
once  the  guardians  of  the  past,  and  the  precursors  of  the  future 
civilization  ;  and  an  imposing  homage  to  their  civil  power  was  paid 
them  in  the  Diet  of  Roncaglia,  by  the  terrible  Emperor  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  when,  being  able  as  he  was  to  solve  difficult  questions  by 
the  sword,  in  the  manner  of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  he  submitted 
them  to  the  wisdom  of  four  famous  doctors  of  the  College  of  Bologna, 
because,  with  the  authority  of  the  Roman  laws,  they  could  decide 
those  questions  pending  between  the  German  Emperor  and  the 
Italian  cities.  It  was  evident  that  the  university  then  possessed  a 
supreme  authority,  by  which  it  had  the  power  of  intervention  in,  and 
the  regulation  of,  the  affairs  of  the  state  ;  hence  it  comes  that  the 
Rector  Magnifkus  of  the  University  is  enabled  to  occupy,  by  right, 
the  highest  position  after  the  prince,  and  is  regarded  by  the  nobility 
as  their  equal.  The  university  exercised  great  power  in  affairs  of 
state,  as  the  true  oracle  of  civil  wisdom,  but  in  the  diffusion  of  that 
light  which  in  a  measure  was  part  of  itself,  it  remained  almost  immov- 
able ;  the  instruction  of  Scholasticism  A^as  continued  in  the  universi- 
ties, long  after  Scholasticism  itself  had  passed  away,  abolished  by  the 
Humanists  of  the  Renaissance ;  and  now  that  criticism  has  forever 
overthrown  their  old  and  worm  eaten  structures,  Scholastics  and 
Humanists  alike  congregate  within  the  same  walls. 

While  every  thing  else  in  Italy  is  making  rapid  progress,  the  uni- 
versities alone  are  backward  ;  now  and  then  we  find  good  preceptors, 
who  comprehend  the  necessity  of  infusing  into  their  instruction 
something  of  the  spirit  of  the  time ;  but  as  a  rule,  Italian  educa- 
tional institutions  still  continue  to  present  a  character  of  venerable 
immobility,  which  is  little  in  conformity  with  the  duties  devolving 
upon  them  in  the  advancement  of  learning.  Many  of  the  Italian 
universities  have  really  out  lived  their  day.  Yet  woe  to  that  coura- 
geous minister  of  public  instruction  who  dares  to  menace  their 
existence.  It  is  often  remarked  that  our  universities  are  too  nu- 
merous for  our  requirements,  and  the  necessity  of  supporting  so  many, 
entails  more  disadvantages  than  can  be  here  enumerated.  The 
pecuniary  circumstances  of  the  professors  by  no  means  correspond 
to  their  rank,  and  provision  must  therefore  be  made  for  them  all.  It 
is  universally  acknowledged  that  this  is  true,  that  a  reform  is  neces- 


THE      UNIVERbTTY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY.  73 

sary,  and  that  some  of  the  universities  of  the  second  class  should 
accordingly  be  sacrificed.  But  the  instant  one  is  suggested,  the 
question  becomes  involved  ;  the  passions  are  aroused  ;  the  govern- 
ment is  assailed  ;  lamentations  increase  to  jeremiads  over  the  ruin 
which  threatens  the  province  in  the  loss  of  her  university,  and  a 
petty  provincial  revolution  seems  imminent  at  the  bare  proposal  to 
suppress  a  university  rendered  famous  by  so  many  glorious  traditions. 
Then  follows  a  display  of  the  names  of  illustrious  professors  who 
in  the  last  century  occupied  chairs  in  that  very  college,  as  if  the 
renown  of  its  former  gifted  faculty  must  necessarily  overbalance  the 
mediocrity  of  the  one  at  present  in  office.  And  when  public  opinion, 
which  is  first  to  be  persuaded  of  the  necessity  for  reducing  the 
number  of  universities,  sees  all  these  names  paraded  in  this  conspic- 
uous manner,  it  wavers  from  its  conviction,  and  joins  its  voice  to  the 
lamentations,  thereby  increasing  the  difficulties  the  government  already 
has  to  contend  with,  among  which — a  serious  impediment  to  sup- 
pression— is  the  settlement  of  the  accounts  with  the  provinces  after 
it  has  been  accomplished.  Several  of  these  universities  have  been 
endowed  through  ancient  legacies  and  privileges ;  and  when  the  eco- 
nomical conditions  of  life  in  Europe  were  less  complex,  and  before 
science  had  been  divided  and  subdivided  into  so  many  special 
departments  requiring  special  professors,  these  endowments  were  of 
sufficient  importance  to  attract  to  the  universities  illustrious  men 
who  gave  them  the  prestige  of  their  genius.  But  few  professors  were 
needed,  and  these  few  were  frequently  selected  from  other  countries, 
since,  as  is  the  custom  in  Germany  and  America,  the  inducement  of 
a  good  salary  was  not  wanting.  At  the  present  day,  on  the  contrary, 
the  ancient  endowments  are  insufficient  to  provide  for  all  the  require- 
ments of  modern  collegiate  instruction.  What  is  the  result  ?  If  the 
government  suppress  these  universities,  it  must  of  course  indemnify 
the  province  by  the  restitution  of  the  endowments  which  formerly 
supported  them,  thereby  disturbing  the  entire  economy  of  its  own 
administration,  already  regulated,  with  a  few  exceptions,  according  to 
a  fixed  rule.  An  equalizing  system  of  endowment  is  therefore  estab- 
lished throughout  the  kingdom,  while  to  each  university  outside  of  the 
common  fund,  an  undeviating  annuity  is  paid,  and  in  this  distribu- 
tion the  smaller  universities  naturally  feel  themselves  sacrificed. 
Some  of  them  have  the  title  alone  remaining,  since,  instead  of  grasp- 
ing the  universality  of  science,  they  only  contain  one  or  two,  or  at 
the  most  three  scientific  faculties;  the  most  limited  number  of  chairs, 
and  still  fewer  professors.  Therefore,  by  dividing  the  Italian  univer- 


74  THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY. 

sities  into  two  categories,  or  rather  into  the  first  and  second  class, 
to  which  may  be  added  several  belonging  to  the  third  order  of  merit, 
as  for  example  that  of  Sassari  in  Sardigna,  we  see  that  at  those  of 
the  second  and  third  class,  where  the  professors  are  paid  by  a  much 
lower  tariff  than  those  connected  with  the  first,  they  are  forced  to 
remain  the  sole  instructors,  who  are  without  ambition,  because  sen- 
sible of  the  impossibility  of  its  realization. 

We  have  made  use  of  the  word  tariff,  and  the  expression  is  not 
inappropriate,  since  it  describes  the  stated  stipends  given  to  the  pre- 
ceptors in  the  university  schools.  We  will  remark,  to  begin  with, 
that  the  stipend  by  no  means  corresponds  to  the  dignity  and  impor- 
tance of  the  duties  belonging  to  a  university  professor.  In  the  Italian 
universities,  where  the  system  of  private  instruction  of  the  Germans 
has  not  yet  been  introduced,  and  if  it  were  would  fail,  salaries  are 
alone  given  to  the  three  following  classes  of  official  instructors  :  First, 
the  temporary  professors,  (incaricati) ;  second,  those  classed  as  extra- 
ordinary (straordinarii) ;  and  third,  those  classed  as  ordinary  (prdi- 
narii).  Those  belonging  to  the  first  denomination  do  not  regularly 
enter  the  university  career  ;  they  are  paid  by  the  course,  on  the  ter- 
mination of  which  they  are  dismissed  without  any  claim  to  pension  or 
promotion.  The  professor  extraordinary  is  a  lecturer  who  enters 
the  university  career  to  remain  there  ;  he  is,  nevertheless,  subject  to 
removal,  being  transferred  from  one  university  to  another,  according 
to  the  pleasure  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 

Young  professors  are  generally  classed  as  extraordinary;  if  the 
professor  distinguishes  himself,  he  attains  the  degree  of  ordinary; 
if  not,  he  remains  a  professor  extraordinary  for  life.  The  professor 
in  ordinary  is  not  subject  to  removal ;  but  having  once  arrived  at 
this  supreme  dignity  in  the  university  career,  however  industrious, 
however  illustrious,  however  superior  to  all  his  colleagues,  he  may 
subsequently  prove  himself  to  be,  he  can  hope  for  no  greater  dis- 
tinction, no  higher  promotion,  no  better  remuneration.  All  the  pro- 
fessors in  ordinary  attached  to  the  first  class  of  Italian  universities, 
have  a  stipend  that  would  cause  our  honorable  American  colleagues 
to  smile;  it  \sfive  thousand  francs  a  year,  of  which  the  government 
retains  a  thirteenth  part,  in  payment  of  the  tax  upon  movable  prop- 
erty, and  as  much  again  for  the  pension  which  they  are  to  receive  if 
they  have  the  good  fortune  to  attain  old  age.  And  they  may  well 
smile,  because  we  are  forced  to  do  the  same  against  our  will,  when 
we  reflect  that  he  receives  less  compensation  than  the  heads  of  the 
ministerial  bureaus,  who  have  arrived  at  that  pasha-like  dignity  by 


THE     UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM     IN      ITALY.  75 

having  the  patience  to  go  on  occupying  for  many  consecutive  years; 
the  same  seat  at  the  same  table.  The  professors  in  ordinary  are  all 
placed  in  Italy  upon  the  same  footing ;  in  case  a  perfect  fraternity 
did  not  exist  between  them,  they  could  console  themselves  with  a 
perfect  equality. 

Constitutional  Italy  has  wished  to  level  all  intelligence,  to  measure 
it  by  one  set  rule,  weigh  it  in  the  same  scales,  and  to  give  all  its  labors 
the  same  recognition.  What  is  the  consequence  ?  The  man  who 
has  a  real  enthusiasm  for  education  and  science,  certainly  does  not 
allow  himself  to  stop  at  questions  of  profit  where  his  own  progress 
and  that  of  others  is  concerned.  This  is  his  natural  and  all-powerful 
tendency  ;  and  in  whatever  condition  of  life,  whether  prosperous  or 
the  reverse,  he  is  always  found  faithful  to  his  vocation.  But  such 
men  are  rare,  and  form  exceptions  to  the  rule.  The  majority  are 
stimulated  in  their  labors  by  personal  interests,  and  hence  it  is  that 
we  see  a  large  proportion  of  our  professors  who  work  unceasingly  to 
attain  the  rank  of  extraordinary,  with  the  view  of  ameliorating  their 
position,  and  of  eventually  being  classed  as  ordinarii.  This  desired 
goal  once  reached,  the  impossibility  of  aspiring  to  any  thing  higher  in  the 
future  seconds  their  natural  inertia,  and  beyond  their  simple  obliga- 
tory routine  of  instruction,  reduced  to  a  species  of  mechanical  exercise, 
they  neither  do,  nor  attempt  to  do  any  thing  for  the  advancement  of 
education,  or  the  progress  of  science.  There  are  others,  on  the  con-- 
trary,  more  active  by  nature,  who  find  that  they  are  not  able  by  teach- 
ing alone  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  their  families,  while  more  remu- 
nerative occupations  are  open  to  them ;  and  although  they  would  wil- 
lingly devote  all  their  attention  to  its  advancement,  they  are  never- 
theless constrained  to  look  outside  of  the  university  for  their  support ; 
thus  often  wasting  their  precious  activity  in  pursuits  by  no  means 
scientific,  which  in  a  short  time  exhaust  the  intellectual  forces.  The 
young  men  who  resort  to  the  universities  to  pursue  a  course  of  study, 
naturally  resent  this  state  of  things  ;  often  finding  the  professors  dissat- 
isfied ;  but  slight  interest  manifested  in  their  instruction,  and  small 
efforts  made  to  inspire  them  with  a  love  of  learning ;  all  which,  added 
to  other  drawbacks  in  our  bad  university  system,  are  certainly  serious 
evils.  Moreover,  as  we  have  already  observed,  the  universities  in 
Italy  are  by  far  too  numerous.  The  single  island  of  Sardigna  pos- 
sesses two,  those  of  Cagliari  and  Sassari;  the  island  of  Sicily  three,  Pal- 
ermo, Messina,  and  Catania ;  Tuscany  three,  the  Institute  of  Supe- 
rior Studies,  at  Florence,  the  University  of  Pisa,  and  the  University 
of  Siena  ;  Naples  one  ;  Rome  one ;  Umbria  one,  Perugia ;  the  Marches 


76  THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY. 

two,  Macerata  and  Camerino  ;  Romagna  two,  Bologna  and  Ferrara ; 
Emilia  two,  Modena  and  Parma  ;  Venetia  one,  Padua ;  Lombardy 
two,  the  Scientific  and  Literary  Academy  at  Milan,  the  University  of 
Pavia  ;  Piedmont  one,  Turin  ;  and  Liguria  one,  Genoa.  Here  we  have 
twenty-two  universities,  not  taking  into  account  the  high,  polytechnic, 
commercial,  industrial,  agricultural,  and  military  schools,  the  Institute 
of  Application  for  mechanics,  and  other  special  institutions,  which, 
as  may  be  supposed,  necessarily  represent  a  large  scientific  interest, 
and  which  extract  a  considerable  sum  from  the  public  treasury.  The 
external  apparatus  of  the  university  system  of  education  in  Italy  is, 
as  we  see,  pretentious  and  imposing,  but,  as  is  often  the  case  when 
such  an  elaborate  display  is  presented  to  our  view,  we  are  constrained 
nevertheless  to  suggest  with  a  sigh:  sed cerebrum  non  habet.  Is  it 
possible  for  Italy  in  her  present  economical  and  intellectual  condition, 
to  support  twenty-two  universities  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render 
them  all  prosperous?  Yet,  supposing  that  she  had  but  half  of  them 
to  maintain  with  dignity  in  the  matter  of  the  emoluments  of  the  pro- 
fessors, would  it  be  possible  to  find  in  Italy  at  the  present  day,  the 
number  of  able  professors  requisite  for  so  many  universities?  What- 
ever faith  we  may  have  in  the  increasing  progress  of  our  country,  we 
do  not  deceive  ourselves  in  order  to  believe  in  it.  It  certainly  appears 
to  us  that,  provided  the  instructors  were  placed  in  better  circum- 
stances, we  should  see  less  frequent  desertions  from  the  universities 
to  the  parliament,  where,  although  the  deputy  is  not  salaried,  the  way 
to  honor  and  promotion  lies  open  before  him,  and  thus  it  pains  us  to 
see  so  many  men  renowned  in  science  and  letters,  abandoning  their 
chosen  paths  in  which  they  have  acquired  fame,  if  nothing  else,  in 
order  to  throw  themselves  into  the  ardent  struggle  of  politics,  in  which 
the  good  name  they  have  won  is  soon  lost.  But  even  if  all  the  men 
in  Italy  most  fitted  to  elevate  the  dignity  of  superior  instruction  should 
wholly  devote  themselves  to  it,  sufficient  reason  for  the  maintenance 
of  so  many  universities  in  existence  would  still  be  lacking.  The 
quantity  must  necessarily  influence  the  quality ;  and  even  if  Italy 
could  boast  of  the  degree  of  culture  upon  which  Germany  is  to  be 
congratulated,  and  from  which  we  are  as  yet  very  far  removed,  it 
would  fail  to  justify  such  a  lavish  supply  of  universities,  all  costing 
perhaps  more  than  they  are  ever  likely  to  render  back.  We  can 
understand  that  at  the  time  when  every  little  Italian  city  was  the 
proud  capital  of  a  flourishing  state,  it  wished  and  could  have  the  orna- 
ment of  its  own  atheneum,  and  sought  to  rival  the  neighboring  capital, 
not  alone  in  the  glory  of  its  arms,  but  also  in  that  of  its  learning. 


THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY.  77 

And  we  can  also  understand,  for  example,  how  the  republican  acad- 
emies (as  they  were  called)  of  Pisa  and  Siena  strove  to  rival  that  of 
Florence.  These  were  three  distinct  states  at  war  with  each  other, 
and  it  would  have  been  a  disgraceful  thing  for  a  Pisan  or  Sienese 
citizen  to  send  his  son  to  study  in  a  city  like  Florence,  with  which 
they  were  in  hostile  relations.  But  at  the  present  day,  this  motive 
for  division  being  no  longer  in  existence ;  if  Tuscany  possessed  one 
flourishing  university,  it  would  not  be  thought  insufficient  for  that 
little  province,  and  there  would  instead  be  cause  for  congratulation  in 
being  able  to  see  collected  in  one  such  institution  the  best  and  most 
gifted  professors,  who  are  now  devoting  their  energies  to  the  instruc- 
tion of  a  necessarily  limited  number  of  students  at  each  of  the  three 
universities  of  Pisa,  Siena,  and  Florence. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  the  time  will  ever  come  when  we  shall  see 
this  desired  consummation,  but  it  seems  certain  that  no  university  in 
Tuscany  can  really  prosper,  until  the  three  which  are  at  present  so 
inadequate  to  the  requirements  of  the  time  are  incorporated  in  one 
more  active  and  efficient.  In  the  Neapolitan  provinces,  for  a  popula- 
tion of  about  six  millions,  they  have  one  university  only,  and  no  one 
will  be  found  bewailing  its  insufficiency ;  on  the  contrary,  universal 
testimony  will  be  given  to  the  prestige  education  receives  in  a  uni- 
versity like  that  of  Naples,  which  within  a  few  years  past,  has  been 
attended  by  nearly  ten  thousand  students,  although  not  all  regularly 
inscribed  as  candidates  for  the  title  of  doctor,  and  the  rights  of  a 
profession.  Another  vice  of  our  university  system  is,  that  the  adop- 
tion of  the  title  of  doctor  comprises  also  the  right  to  practice  the 
profession  to  which  it  belongs  ;  so  that  he  who  takes  his  degree  in 
medicine  to-day,  becomes  a  physician  on  the  morrow  ;  he  who  receives 
his  degree  in  the  law,  has  the  right — after  three  years  of  practice,  a.s  it  is 
called,  but  which  in  reality  is  nothing  more  than  having  simply  been 
present  in  a  lawyer's  office — to  pursue  the  legal  profession.  He  who 
takes  his  degree  in  philosophy  and  philology,  is  entitled  to  establish 
himself  at  once  as  a  professor  in  an  academy  or  lyceum.  Thus  the 
Italian  university,  which  is,  properly  speaking,  neither  a  high  scientific 
school  nor  an  especially  high  professional  one,  arrogates  to  itself  the 
double  privilege  of  nominating  the  scientific  doctors,  and  of  giving 
the  diplomas  for  the  various  professions.  Hence  arises  the  great  evil 
of  allowing  students  to  issue  from  the  universities  without  thorough 
scientific  training  and  without  experience ;  they  receive  instead  a 
hybrid  education,  which  aims  to  combine  the  two  things,  and  which 
results  in  damage  to  both.  Students  run  through  the  university 


78  THE      UNIVERSITY     SYSTEM      IN     ITALY. 

course  as  some  statesmen  pursue  their  administrative  career  ;  with 
the  lapse  of  time  they  pass  from  rank  to  rank,  till,  all  intervening 
grades  and  years  having  been  passed  through,  they  finally  arrive  at 
the  wished-for  title  with  its  corresponding  employment.  We  deplore 
the  fact  that  such  an  artificial  and  mechanical  method  of  creating 
doctors,  so  unworthy  of  commendation  in  any  particular,  should  still 
be  in  practice  among  us. 

As  we  have  before  remarked,  there  are  in  several  Italian  universi- 
ties, noble  and  energetic  workers,  who  are  capable  of  introducing 
more  rational  and  practicable  methods;  but  these  are  exceptions,  and 
when  the  majority  continue  for  the  most  part  to  do  as  they  have 
always  done,  not  caring  whether  it  be  good  or  evil,  and  remain  con-  / 
tent  to  walk  in  the  beaten  path,  the  efforts  of  a  few  individuals  can 
produce  but  little  effect  in  a  generally  vitiated  system  ;  vitiated  in 
its  scholastic  traditions,  in  its  intentions,  and  in  its  association  with  the 
inferior  institutions,  which  furnish  the  universities  with  the  elements 
upon  which  they  work.  The  provisions  made  in  these  years  of  liberal 
thought  in  Italy,  and  the  new  element  introduced  into  the  universities, 
Jiave  at  least  rendered  the  defects  of  the  old  system  perceptible,  but 
its  abolition  will  not  alone  suffice,  and  the  Italian  university  will 
/never  enjoy  a  prosperous  vitality  till  it  is  entirely  transformed  in 
/accordance  with  the  necessities  of  the  time. 

In  the  past,  a  certain  fame  of  erudition  was  sufficient  in  order  to 
secure  the  good  graces  of  the  prince,  and  to  obtain  a  chair  in  the 
university  ;  as  to  the  teaching,  the  more  antiquated  and  soporific  it 
was,  the  more  pleasing  it  was  to  the  prince.  The  professor,  upon 
ascending  the  rostrum,  assumed  the  traditional  toga ;  spoke  in  meas- 
ured magisterial  tones  while  expounding  the  principles  of  science 
with  oracular  gravity,  and  the  more  hard  working  of  the  scholars, 
who  collected  faithfully  and  repeated  the  words  of  the  imperious 
master,  were  designated  as  distinguished ;  they  were  preferred  and 
privileged ;  and  all  entertained  the  hope  that  if  they  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  educational  career,  they  might  one  day  be  able  to  suc- 
ceed the  said  master,  to  adopt  in  their  turn  the  authoritative  tone 
and  the  same  magisterial  pomposity.  To  this  is"  added  in  several 
universities  by  way  of  prestige,  the  custom  of  conducting  the  lec- 
tures in  the  Latin  language,  as  if  to  conceal  the  poverty  of  ideas 
beneath  the  weight  of  words.  We  do  not  refer  now  to  the  remote 
past;  before  the  year  1848,  several  physicians  and  lawyers  still  lec- 
tured in  Latin  in  the  university  of  Turin  ;  where  at  the  present  day 
the  use  of  Latin  as  a  medium  of  instruction  belongs  to  Prof.  Tom- 


THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN     ITALY.  79 

maso  Vallauri,  whose  professorship  is  known  as  that  of  Latin  Elo- 
quence. The  title  alone  of  this  professorship  gives  us  an  idea  of  the 
quality  of  the  instruction,  as  that  of  the  corresponding  chair  of 
Italian  Eloquence  shows  us  what  was  understood  by  Italian  until 
within  a  few  years,  at  the  University  of  Turin.  While  to-day  the 
same  chairs  are  known  as  those  of  Latin  Literature  and  Italian  Litera- 
ture ;  the  word  Literature,  now  comprising  philology,  literary  history, 
and  esthetics,  was  formerly  applied  to  eloquence  alone,  and  when  the 
incumbent  of  the  professorship  had  delivered  his  speech  with  orator- 
ical excellence,  it  was  sufficient,  and  no  one  demanded  an  account  of 
what  he  had  said.  In  like  manner  the  teaching  of  history  was 
reduced,  in  some  of  the  universities,  to  the  mere  exposition  of  those 
salient  facts  best  adapted  for  rhetorical  narration,  and  most  likely  to 
impress  the  listeners  with  an  exalted  idea  of  the  grandeur  of  the 
reigning  dynasty.  In  philosophy,  the  graduates  from  San  Tommaso 
ran  great  risks  of  passing  for  heretics.  To  the  physical  sciences 
alone,  since  they  are  subjected  to  practical  experiments  and  not  to 
oral  demonstration,  no  scholastic  rule  is  affixed  ;  and  for  this  reason, 
in  the  general  poverty  of  the  other  academic  studies,  the  physical 
investigations  made  by  university  professors  will  lead,  without  doubt, 
to  many  important  discoveries.  The  individual  instruction  is  already 
partly  renovated,  and  partly  in  course  of  renovation,  so  that  many 
of  the  evils  we  still  deplore,  proceeding  from  the  prejudices  of  that 
class  of  teachers  who  yet  remain  wedded  to  their  old  rhetorical  and 
scholastic  systems,  will  soon  cease,  owing  to  the  difficulty  the  new 
professors  encounter  in  following  in  the  tracks  of  their  predecessors. 
Every  year  shows  us  a  perceptible  amelioration  in  this  respect, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  twenty  years  no  traces  will  be  left  in 
our  universities  of  the  pedantic  instruction  of  which  we  are  to-day  the 
witnesses.  The  method  alone  by  which  professors  are  now  elected 
authorizes  great  hopes  for  the  future.  The  proceedings  are  more 
constitutional  ;  a  larger  number  of  persons  participate  in  the  nomina- 
tions, and  there  is  therefore  a  broader  and  more  liberal  regimen.  We 
do  not  infer  that  the  present  method  has  not  numerous  drawbacks, 
chief  of  which  appears  to  us  to  be  the  division  of  the  responsibility 
among  so  many  that  no  one  assumes  his  proper  share.  Consequently 
it  often  happens  that  nominations  are  indorsed  which  no  one  alone 
would  dare  to  propose.  In  the  majority  of  nominations  to  university 
professorships,  the  proceedings  are  as  follows  :  When  a  chair  is  left 
vacant  in  a  faculty,  and  is  to  be  filled,  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion invites  the  faculty  itself  to  assemble  for  the  purpose  of  proposing 


80  THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY. 

and  recommending  its  candidate.  The  faculty  convene ;  discussions 
and  consultations  follow,  and  their  proposal  is  then  referred  to  the 
Supreme  Council  of  Public  Instruction,  composed  of  twenty  profes- 
sors, or  men  of  science  and  letters,  delegated  by  the  government  for 
the  purpose.  The  council  then  nominates  a  commission  from  among 
its  members;  this  commission  makes  an  examination  of  the  claims  of 
the  candidate  and  the  proposal  of  the  faculty,  the  result  of  which  is 
then  referred  to  the  council,  by  whom  the  matter  is  put  to  vote.  If 
the  candidate  obtains  the  majority,  the  minister  confirms  the  nomina- 
tion and  causes  the  degree  to  be  prepared,  which,  after  being  signed  by 
the  king  and  approved  by  the  parliament,  is  sent  to  the  chosen  can- 
didate. This  is  at  present  the  most  regular  and  frequent  method  of 
nomination  ;  but  exceptions  are  occasionally  permitted.  The  minis- 
ter sometimes  proposes  his  own  candidate  to  the  faculty,  or  transmits 
his  claims  directly  to  the  Supreme  Council,  in  this  way  making  the 
examinations  and  nominations  without  consulting  the  faculty;  but  as 
a  rule  the  initiative  is  voluntarily  left  to  them,  with  whom  the  accep- 
tance or  non-acceptance  of  a  professor  often  depends  upon  the  degree 
of  authority  its  presiding  officer  exerts  over  the  rest  of  his  colleagues. 
The  latter,  out  of  deference  to  their  president,  not  infrequently  allow 
him  to  act  in  accordance  with  his  own  judgment,  which  may  or  may 
not  always  be  correct  or  disinterested,  in  choosing  the  new  professor 
in  the  name  of  the  faculty,  which  is  excused  for  its  inertia  and  indif- 
ference, since  this  inertia  and  indifference  can  be  in  part  justified.  With 
us  the  faculties  of  the  universities  have  by  no  means  the  same  power 
which  is  given  to  them  in  Germany.  The  university  council  is  not  a 
vital  force,  which  is  active  in  taking  the  initiative.  It  continues  to 
exist  because  it  is  the  wish  of  the  government,  and  because  it  is 
decreed  that  it  shall  assemble  once  a  month,  which  requirement  is 
often  overlooked ;  but  not  because  there  is  not  sufficient  for  it  to 
do  in  the  arrangement  of  the  little  bureaucratic  affairs,  relative  to 
the  study  hours,  the  examinations,  and  the  discipline,  which  its 
province  is  to  regulate,  but  which  it  now  leaves  for  the  chancellor 
of  the  faculty  to  attend  to,  even  as  other  important  duties  are 
allowed  to  devolve  upon  its  president.  We  might  give  many  causes 
for  this  laxity,  but  the  two  principal  are  undoubtedly  these :  first, 
the  slight  amount  of  confidence  we  place  in  the  institutions  of  which 
we  ourselves  form  a  part,  and  which  we  should  in  every  way  seek 
to  render  worthy  of  reliance  ;  and  second — and  this  is  an  evil  much 
more  difficult  to  overcome — our  lack  of  social  intercourse  by  which 
we  are  led  to  distrust  every  thing  done  in  common,  and  which  leads  us 


THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN     ITALY.  81 

to  disdain  all  communion  of  ideas,  as  if  fearing  that  in  the  contact 
with  the  individuality  of  others,  our  own  must  necessarily  be  sacrificed. 
Therefore  it  happens  that  in  wishing  too  much  for  all,  we  renounce  that 
portion  of  our  rights  which  belongs  to  each  of  us  separately,  preferring 
to  do  nothing,  and  to  let  one  person  act  for  all  according  to  his  own 
pleasure,  rather  than  work  in  unison,  where  personal  renown  and  ad- 
vantage would  unavoidably  be  somewhat  subordinated.  It  is  one  of 
our  old  failings  which  we  are  beginning  to  acknowledge,  but  not  as  yet 
to  correct.  We  trust  that  time  may  render  us  more  tractable,  and  less 
reserved  among  ourselves.  Individual  forces  may  be  admirable,  but 
their  union  would  result  in  great  and  permanent  advantages.  The 
faculties  of  our  universities  may  be  undisciplined  and  apathetic,  but 
they  are  perfectly  capable  of  being  vitalized.  And  the  first  sign  of 
vitality  should  be  that  of  taking  measures  for  a  thorough  transformation 
of  the  present  university  system.  They  alone  have  the  power  and 
authority  requisite  for  the  task;  and  whenever  they  are  willing  to  put 
themselves  in  accord  with  each  other,  the  better  to  study  the  necessary 
reforms,  to  determine  what  they  shall  be,  and  to  put  them  in  practice, 
our  universities  will  accomplish  wonders. 

But  who  will  ever  have  the  power  to  infuse  into  them  this  energy 
and  courage  ?  Under  the  present  system  the  university  is  too  widely 
estranged  from  our  every-day  life,  and  too  indifferent  to  it.  Where 
vital  force  should  be  most  felt,  it  is  wholly  lacking.  Students  enter 
the  universities,  and  issue  therefrom,  in  much  the  same  manner  as 
did  the  Prophet  Jonah  enter  and  come  forth  from  the  gloomy  recesses, 
of  the  whale.  They  go  there  to  learn  the  mysteries  of  science  ;  but  of 
the  science  of  life,  by  far  the  most  important  of  all,  they  come  away 
ignorant.  One  student  studies  four  years,  another  five,  another  six,, 
but  they  are  all  equally  ignorant  of  the  art  of  living.  The  university 
should  properly  be  the  mother  of  genius  and  character ;  it  is,  instead,, 
merely  the  censor  for  a  certain  number  of  years  of  a  crowd  of  boys,, 
who  are  forced  to  cheat  at  the  examinations  in  order  to  rise  from: 
grade  to  grade  till  the  desired  doctor's  robe  is  obtained.  Then  they 
are  all  obliged  to  herd  together  like  sheep  in  a  pasture  ;  the  exami- 
nations are  the  same  for  all,  given  at  stated  intervals  and  in  a  like 
manner  for  all,  votes  are  cast  with  the  same  judgment,  or  rather 
lack  of  judgment,  since  the  best  parrot  of  the  class  can  pass  the 
most  brilliant  examination,  and  consequently  gain  the  vote,  while 
the  greatest  genius  may  perhaps  lose  the  contest,  disheartened  by 
the  trying  formalities  of  these  proceedings.  In  four  years  the  candi- 
dates become  doctors  of  letters;  the  regulations  have  so  ordained, 


82  THE     UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY. 

and  they  must  be  obeyed  ;  it  is  never  taken  into  account  that  one 
student  might  perhaps  merit  the  title  of  doctor  after  only  a  month 
of  trial,  while  another  might  fail  to  deserve  it  even  at  the  expiration 
of  twenty  years  :  all  must  observe  the  same  routine,  pass  through 
the  same  mill,  prepare  the  same  themes,  and  be  present  at  the  same 
lectures,  so  that  should  there  be  a  few  intellects  more  active  than 
those  around  them,  this  discipline  speedily  brings  them  to  the  common 
level.  We  have  previously  observed  that  there  are  especial  exceptions, 
in  those  who  if  they  would  only  apply  themselves  to  the  task,  might 
furnish  noble  results ;  for  example,  in  our  Institute  of  Superioi 
Studies  the  greater  number  of  professors,  without  consulting  the  reg- 
ulations or  asking  the  permission  of  the  ministry,  have  inaugurated 
public  lectures  with  private  conferences,  in  which,  master  and  pupil 
being  brought  into  contact  with  each  other,  become  better  acquainted, 
and  the  master  is  thus  better  able  to  be  the  guide  of  his  scholars,  by 
directing,  correcting,  and  aiding  them  in  those  studies,  researches, 
.and  occupation,  toward  which  they  most  incline.  But  no  one  has 
the  authority  to  exempt  the  students  from  the  yearly  examinations 
on  fixed  themes  in  the  various  departments  of  instruction,  and  so 
the  professors  are  all  obliged  to  waste  a  portion  of  valuable  time  in 
drilling  the  boys  in  studies,  of  which  they  are  expected  to  give  an 
account  at  the  examinations  in  order  to  attain  promotion.  By  what 
authority  therefore,  after  four  years  of  study  pursued  in  so  artificial 
a  manner,  a  boy  can  receive  his  degree  and  be  proclaimed  a  doctor 
of  any  science,  passes  all  understanding.  It  is  true  that  the  title  of 
doctor  has  but  slight  significance,  other  than  as  a  sign  that  the 
scholastic  penance  is  at  end,  and  that  the  beginning  of  a  lucrative 
career  is  at  hand.  The  instruction  has  the  advantage  of  being 
liberal ;  which  is  certainly  one  of  our  greatest  blessings.  Each  and 
all  of  our  professors  can  freely  expound  from  his  desk  whatever 
doctrine  he  pleases,  from  the  Positivism  which  prevails  in  the  literary 
faculty  of  our  Institute  of  Superior  Studies,  to  the  Hegelianism  which 
reigns  in  the  University  of  Naples,  and  the  materialism  taught  in 
the  University  of  Turin  by  Professor  Moleshott.  Every  professor  is 
free  in  the  rostrum,  and  this  has  been  a  great  advantage  ;  but 
professors  and  students  are  alike  slaves  of  a  law  which  throws 
them  together  for  a  stated  number  of  years,  while  it  separates 
them  by  a  barrier  of  formalities,  and  which  offers  no  guarantees  that 
the  masters  shall  be  skillful  and  conscientious,  or  that  the  pupils 
shall  acquire  the  desired  scientific  training.  The  mechanism  which 
regulates  our  universities  needs  to  be  completely  reconstructed  ;  and 


THE      UNIVERSITY      SYSTEM      IN      ITALY.  83 

above  all  it  is  important  that  the  scientific  university  and  the  profes- 
sional school  should  be  two  distinct  institutions.  The  professional 
school  should  alone  require  examinations  of  ability  and  capability, 
but  not  examinations  according  to  the  customary  acceptation  of  the 
term.  Lawyers  should  be  proved  by  the  defense  of  a  first  case  ;  the 
professor  by  a  series  of  lectures  ;  the  architect  by  the  construction 
of  a  building ;  and  so  forth,.  These  would  be  examinations  of  men  ; 
while  in  the  universities  they  now  continue  to  hold  examinations  of 
boys.  The  scientific  university  should  neither  have  the  power  of 
conferring  titles,  nor  of  holding  examinations.  Its  sole  aim  should 
be  the  advancement  of  science,  and  all  who  are  truly  studious  will 
avail  themselves  of  the  facilities  it  offers  for  mastering  that  branch  of 
science  in  the  pursuit  of  which  they  can  attend  the  lectures  of  an 
able  public  professor. 

The  successful  examinations  at  a  lyceum  or  an  academy  should 
not  be  unconditionally  required  in  order  to  effect  an  entrance  to  the 
university,  though  such  certificates  of  mediocrity  should  by  no  means 
pass  unnoticed.  The  universities  should  be  open  to  all,  without 
requiring  the  presentation  of  titles.  They  who  find  the  instruction 
too  advanced  to  be  able  to  follow  it,  can  assemble  elsewhere  to  pur- 
sue a  preparatory  course,  but  access  to  the  temple  of  science  should 
no  more  be  denied  than  to  the  temple  of  faith. 

It  is  only  by  investing  the  university  with  this  broad  and  many- 
sided  authority,  that  it  will  be  not  only  able  to  keep  up  with  the 
progress  of  ideas,  but  in  a  measure  to  control  them.  At  present 
there  is  almost  no  intercourse  between  the  university  and  the  world 
without ;  and  while  from  within  it  appears  to  be  a  great  institution, 
outside  its  walls  its  influence  is  unfelt.  Communication  should  be 
opened  with  the  world  of  active  life  and  thought,  that  the  electric 
currents  from  the  vital  forces  of  society  might  pass  to  and  fro. 

In  a  word,  remove  from  our  university  teaching  its  antiquated 
pedantry,  its  bureaucracy,  its  scholasticism,  and  it  will  once  again,  as 
of  old,  shed  its  pure  light  upon  the  world. 


UNIVERSITY 


UNIVERSAL   EDUCATION. 

BY  RAY  PALMER,  D.D. 


The   Connecticut  Common   School  Journal.    Edited  by   HENRY  BARNARD,  LL.D, 

The  American  Journal  of  Education.     Published  Quarterly.     Edited  by  HENRY  BARNA1P. 

Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education.     By  JOHN  EATON,  JR.,  U.  S.  C. 


HPHE  true  conception  of  Civilization  is  that  of  a  condition  of 
society  in  which  there  is  a  right  adjustment  of  the  relations  of 
man  to  man  and  of  the  entire  spirit  and  drift  of  social  life  to  the  high- 
est interests  of  the  race. 

This  conception  is  a  comparatively  modern  one,  if  indeed  it  can 
even  now  be  said  to  have  been  clearly  developed  by  those  who  have 
discussed  the  subject.  The  best  ideals  of  the  past  centuries  fell  far 
short  of  it.  They  lacked  certain  essential  elements  which  experience 
and  thought,  and  more  especially  the  wider  influence  of  Christianity, 
have  supplied.  It  is  still  common  to  find  the  word  Civilization  used 
to  signify  nothing  more  than  a  state  of  society  that  is  characterized 
by  the  possession  of  some  good  measure  of  general  knowledge,  and 
of  the  comforts  and  the  arts  of  life,  and  is  so  distinguished  from  a  state 
of  barbarism. 

The  truth  is,  we  are  convinced,  that  to  no  people  of  any  past  age 
has  the  attainment  of  anything  nearly  approaching  to  a  complete  Civ- 
ilization been  within  the  range  of  possibility.  Such  misadjustments 
of  the  individual  members  of  society  to  each  other,  such  clashing  of 
interests  and  aims,  such  mutual  wrongs  among  the  various  classes  and 
ranks,  such  immeasurable  vices  and  miseries,  have  everywhere  existed, 
that  to  hold  evil  in  check  and  to  save  the  well  disposed  from  the 
horrors  of  anarchy,  have  been  the  chief  concern  of  those  who,  with 
right  intentions,  have  wielded  influence  and  power.  That  sharply  to 
define  and  carefully  to  guard  the  rights,  and  impartially  to  secure  the 
highest  well  being  of  all  who  compose  the  social  body,  is  the  true 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  85 

end  of  civil  laws  and  institutions,  the  world  has  been  very  slow  to 
learn. 

It  has,  however,  for  some  time  been  manifest  that,  among  the  more 
advanced  nations,  a  new  and  greatly  auspicious  movement  towards  a 
right  practical  solution  of  the  social  problem  has  begun.  On  many 
of  the  more  difficult  questions  connected  with  social  and  civil  life, 
the  thought  and  the  events  of  the  present  century  have  shed  new 
light.  The  civilization  of  the  future  is  henceforth  to  be  carried  for- 
ward under  essentially  new  conditions.  These  must  be  compre- 
hended by  those  who  would  rightly  shape  society  and  institutions. 
The  many  inventions  and  discoveries  that  have  characterized  the 
period  have  wrought  such  changes  in  the  social  system — especially  in 
the  modes  of  intercommunication  and  interaction  between  individuals 
and  nations — and  these  have  in  so  many  particulars  revolutionized 
the  views  not  only  of  publicists  and  statesmen,  but  of  the  more  intel- 
ligent portion  of  the  people,  that  the  great  forces  of  society  are  in 
many  respects  working  toward  higher  ends  to-day  than  they  ever 
could  have  been  before.  While  this  is  observable  in  all  departments 
of  social  activity,  it  is  especially  to  be  noticed  in  that  of  education  ;  in 
which,  notwithstanding  so  much  remains  undone,  a  great  deal  has 
been  well  accomplished. 

On  a  review  of  the  century,  it  is  plain  that  there  has  been  a 
steady  and  great  advance  towards  a  practical  conviction  in  the  public 
mind  of  the  necessity  of  an  absolutely  Universal  Education  in  order 
to  the  highest  well-being  of  society.  The  growth  of  this  convic- 
tion has  been  discernible  over  all  the  States  of  Europe,  as  well  as 
among  ourselves.  The  civil  convulsions  with  which  the  last  century 
closed  and  the  present  opened,  disastrous  as  they  were  in  many  re- 
spects in  their  immediate  consequences,  were  partly  the  effect  and  still 
more  largely  the  salutary  causes,  of  an  awakened  desire  and  striving 
on  the  part  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  to  rise  to  a  better  condition. 
Even  the  Kings,  Princes  and  Cabinets  of  the  leading  States,  among 
the  last  too  often  to  concern  themselves  about  the  rights  and  the 
needs  of  the  lower  classes,  began  early  in  the  century  to  see  and  to 
admit  the  political  necessity  of  giving  to  the  greatest  possible  num- 
ber the  means  of  becoming  fitted  to  take  care  of  themselves  and  to 
fulfill  individually  the  functions  of  citizenship.  So  widely  prevalent 
had  been  before  the  idea  that  education  was  needed  only  or  chiefly 
by  those  who  were  to  fill  the  learned  professions  and  the  higher  posi- 
tions in  life,  that  it  was  only  by  a  very  gradual  process  that  the  great 
truth  that  education  was  at  once  the  right  and  the  need  of  all,  dawned 


86  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

on  the  understandings  even  of  the  most  thoughtful  and  philan- 
thropic. 

But  the  conception  of  education  as  a  good  to  which  all  were  enti- 
tled to  have  access,  was  not  yet  broad  enough.  It  was  sure  to  be 
seen  also,  so  soon  as  any  thorough  attention  should  be  given  to  the 
subject,  that  there  was  equal  need  to  enlarge  greatly  the  range  of 
disciplines  and  studies.  While  every  individual  was  to  be  trained  and 
taught,  the  advantage,  it  was  plain,  should  be  comparatively  small  if 
each  was  trained  and  taught  only  on  the  narrow  basis  of  the  old  con- 
ventional ideas  of  education.  The  next  step  of  progress,  therefore, 
was  of  course  the  rapid  enlargement  in  all  directions  of  the  curriculum 
of  studies,  with  corresponding  advances  on  the  established  methods 
of  instruction.  It  has  been  clearly  seen  that  to  reading,  writing  and 
arithmetic  in  the  common  schools,  and  the  classical  and  philosophical 
courses  in  the  higher  institutions,  must  be  added  the  teaching  of  the 
practical  sciences  and  arts  ;  of  everything,  in  short,  needed  by  any 
considerable  number  to  fit  them  to  work  to  the  greatest  advantage  in 
their  various  pursuits.  To  reach  all  classes  of  society  with  the  means 
of  development  and  culture,  and  to  teach  every  individual  what  he 
personally  most  needs  to  know  in  order  that  he  may  live  usefully 
and  well — this  is  the  rounded,  the  complete  conception  of  Universal 
Education. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  new  impulse  which  the  cause  of  popular 
education  has  received,  as  belonging  to  the  present  century.  It  ought, 
however,  to  be  noted  that  various  experiments  looking  in  the  right 
direction  had  been  made  at  particular  points  before.  Luther  and 
Melancthon,  Zwingle  and  Calvin  and  other  leaders  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, as  a  necessary  result  of  their  position,  recognized  the  importance 
of  extending  facilities  for  education  to  the  many,  and  did  what  they 
could  to  encourage  schools  of  different  grades.  Sturm,  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  i6th  century,  and  Comenius,  in  the  first  half  of  the  i/th, 
contributed  greatly  to  the  improvement  of  the  prevailing  methods  of 
instruction,  and  did  much  to  produce  a  better  public  sentiment  in 
regard  to  the  elevation  of  the  people.*  Scotland,  so  early  as  1616, 
by  act  of  Parliament,  laid  the  foundation  for  the  system  of  schools  to 
which  her  people  doubtless  owe  much  of  their  proverbial  acuteness 

*  Other  names  might  easily  be  added  of  prominent  educators  whose  influence  was 
widely  felt  in  their  time  ;  such  as  Spener,  who  introduced  the  catechetic  method ;  Franke, 
the  founder  of  the  orphan  house  at  Halle,  in  1696;  Felbiger,  who  reconstructed  the  schools 
of  Silesia  and  of  Austria  ;  Basedow,  who  in  1781  established  the  Philanthropinum  at  Dessau, 
among  many  more  or  less  distinguished. 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  87 

and  intellectual  strength.  Our  own  ancestors,  but  a  few  years  later, 
amidst  all  the  hardships  of  early  colonial  life,  established  the  common 
schools  whose  fruits  have  so  greatly  enriched  New  England.  The 
Empress  Maria  Theresa,  on  coming  to  the  throne  in  1740,  performed 
a  noble  service  of  the  same  kind  for  the  common  people,  especially  in 
Bohemia  and  Belgium.  Frederick  II.,  in  1750,  made  provision  by 
law  for  the  institution  and  support  of  public  schools  among  his 
subjects.  But  most  of  these  earlier  movements  were  only  partially 
successful ;  because  that  while  the  people  were  required  to  establish 
and  in  part  or  altogether  to  support  the  schools,  nc  adequate  provis- 
ion was  made  to  secure  the  attendance  of  the  entire  body  of  children, 
for  whose  profit  they  were  designed.  They  all,  nevertheless,  helped 
to  bring  on  a  better  day. 

It  is  always  difficult  to  fix  an  exact  date  to  a  reformatory  move- 
ment. Before  such  a  movement  becomes  sufficiently  conspicuous  to 
attract  the  notice  of  the  public  at  large,  much  has  commonly  gone 
before  that  had  direct  causative  relation  to  it.  But  it  will  be  suffi- 
ciently accurate  if  we  say  that  the  modern  rapidly  progressive  era 
of  popular  education  may  very  well  be  considered  as  commencing, 
or  at  least  taking  a  new  departure,  with  the  labors  of  Pestalozzi  and 
De  Fellenberg  in  Switzerland.  Pestalozzi  was  born  in  1746  and  was 
fifty-four  years  old  when  he  established  his  educational  institution  at 
Burgdorf  in  1800.  Twenty  years  before  he  had  published  his 
Lienhard  und  Gcrtrud,  which  made  him  widely  known  as  a  writer  on 
education ;  and  the  next  year  he  published  his  Wie  Gertrud  ihre  Kin- 
derlelirt,  in  which  his  maturest  thoughts  and  the  principles  of  his 
system,  that  was  destined  directly  and  indirectly  to  inaugurate  a  new 
educational  era,  were  very  fully  unfolded.  That  part  of  his  life, 
therefore,  in  which  his  influence  became  wide  and  practically  effective, 
fell  within  the  present  century.  In  the  experiments  by  which,  in  con- 
nection with  De  Fellenberg  and  Wehrli,  he  attempted  a  practical 
application  of  his  theories,  enough  was  accomplished  to  make  an 
impression  that  was  well  nigh  revolutionary.  The  methods  had 
enough  of  novelty  to  attract  attention.  The  principles  were  many 
of  them  really  new,  at  least  in  the  distinctness  and  force  with  which 
they  were  propounded.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  men  was  itself  conta- 
gious. Their  influence  was  felt  through  Europe,  and  men  watched 
their  labors  not  merely  to  admire,  but  to  imitate  as  well.  It  was  an 
easy  and  natural  step  from  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  education 
must  involve  the  development  of  all  the  senses  and  of  the  physical 
powers,  as  well  as  of  the  purely  intellectual  faculties,  and  this  in  a 


88  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

simple  way,  to  the  recognition  of  the  propriety  of  carrying  educa- 
tional appliances  into  every  class  of  society  and  every  sphere  of  social 
life.  The  result  was  a  sudden  widening  of  the  range  of  experiment 
and  instruction — the  rapid  establishment  of  schools  of  agriculture, 
and  of  art  and  science  in  all  their  manifold  applications  to  practical 
affairs.  Polytechnic  Institutions  were  organized  one  after  another ; 
and  then  as  the  necessary  result  of  multiplying  schools  and  depart- 
ments of  study,  an  urgent  demand  for  teachers  led  to  the  great 
increase  of  Normal  Schools  in  which  they  might  be  trained.  Prussia, 
during  a  course  of  years  from  1809  to  1822,  reorganized  and  perfected 
her  school  system,  since  so  famous.*  France  followed  the  lead  of 
Prussia.  M.  Victor  Cousin  made  his  first  report  to  the  French 
Minister  of  the  Interior  in  1831,  and  a  second  and  supplementary 
report  in  1833  ;  and  from  that  time  until  recently,  each  Commune  in 
France  has  had  a  public  school.  Owing  to  the  indifference  and 
neglect  of  the  people,  however,  this  provision  has  but  very  partially 
fulfilled  its  end.  The  Scandinavian  countries,  together  with  Austria, 
Switzerland  and  the  smaller  German  States,  have  more  or  less  rapidly 
advanced  in  the  same  direction.  Sardinia  readjusted  her  system  of 
public  instruction  in  1859,  anc^  the  ^aw  then  enacted  has  determined 
the  general  course  of  education  for  United  Italy  since.  Many 
modifications,  however,  have  been  adopted  in  the  changed  condition 
of  the  country,  and  other  important  measures  have  been  proposed 
and  under  discussion  during  the  last  two  years.  The  Mother  of 
letters  and  arts,  mindful  of  her  old  renown,  is  manifestly  resolved  to 
make  herself  a  place  among  the  most  progressive  nations. 

In  England  several  prominent  individuals  have,  at  different  times, 
with  some  success,  made  attempts  to  fix  public  attention  on  the 
existing  want  of  anything  like  adequate  means  for  the  education  of 
the  common  people.  Lord  Brougham,  in  1816,  obtained  from  Parlia- 
ment the  appointment  of  a  Commission  to  inquire  into  the  state  of 
education  among  the  poor  of  London.  In  1819,  he,  with  some  of  his 
friends,  established  a  model  school  for  the  children  of  this  class. 
But  England,  though  moving  forward  and  doing  some  things  wisely 

*  M.  Cousin,  in  his  well-known  reports,  misled  many  writers  who  adopted  from  him 
the  statement  that  the  Prussian  system  in  its  completeness  was  established  by  law  in  1819. 
There  was  no  such  law  enacted  at  that  time.  The  latest  and  best  authorities  affirm  that  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction  showed  M.  Cousin  a.projet  of  the  system  and  probably  gave 
him  the  impression  that  it  was  to  be  formally  established  by  statute.  In  fact,  however,  it 
was  carried  into  effect  by  means  of  instructions  given  to  Superintendents,  and  not  by  legal 
enactments. 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  8& 

after  her  conservative  fashion,  especially  since  1871,  is  still  far  behind 
the  most  advanced  portions  of  the  continent  as  regards  the  means 
of  popular  education.  The  Emperor  of  Russia,  in  connection  with] 
the  emancipation  of  the  serfs,  appointed  a  Commission  to  report  a 
system  of  national  education,  which  they  did  in  1.861,  and  in  spite  of 
very  great  difficulties,  it  seems  to  be  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial 
Government  to  press  on  in  the  good  work  begun.  Even  in  Turkey, 
where  it  would  hardly  have  been  looked  for,  an  admirable  system  of 
public  instruction  was  promulgated  in  1869.  How  far  it  will  be 
made  practically  effective  remains  to  be  seen. 

In  our  own  country,  the  awakening  of  the  public  mind  to  the 
disorganized,  or  at  least  flagrantly  defective,  condition  of  the  com- 
mon schools,  even  in  New  England,  cannot  be  dated  much  farther 
back  than  thirty-five  or  forty  years.  At  the  beginning  of  this  period, 
their  state  and  prospects  were  every  way  discouraging.  Almost  the 
only  hopeful  sign  then  was  that  there  was  beginning  to  be,  in  the 
minds  of  many,  a  painful  consciousness  that  such  was  indeed  the  fact. 
Some  few  preliminary  and  almost  isolated  efforts  for  a  reform  had  in- 
deed been  made.  In  1827  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  which  so 
far  back  as  1812  had  been  the  first  to  institute  the  office  of  State 
Superintendent,  made  provision  by  law  for  the  education  of  teachers, 
by  establishing  departments  for  their  training  in  eight  Academies 
within  the  State.  In  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  through  the  exer- 
tions of  a  few,  a  decided  impulse  was  given  to  public  sentiment. 
Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  those  who  wrote  and  spoke  with  in- 
telligent earnestness  were  James  G.  Carter,  William  B.  Calhoun, 
William  C.  Woodbridge,  who  conducted  the  Journal  of  Education, 
published  at  Boston ;  Dr.  William  Ellery  Channing,  whose  eloquent 
pleas  for  the  professional  training  of  teachers  and  the  intellectual  and 
moral  improvement  of  the  working  classes  attracted  much  attention ; 
Jacob  Abbott,  the  well-known  author  of  "The  Teacher;"  the  Hon. 
Horace  Mann,  afterwards  the  able  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts 
Board  of  Education ;  and  we  may  fitly  add  Dr.  Lowell  Mason,  by 
whose  efforts  chiefly,  and  not  without  great  difficulty,  the  introduc- 
tion of  music  into  the  public  schools  was  at  length  secured.  About 
the  same  time,  in  Connecticut,  Dr.  Henry  Barnard  was  commencing 
that  career  of  devoted  and  untiring  labor,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
has  rendered  such  distinguished  service  to  the  cause  of  popular  edu- 
cation. 

Mr.  Mann,  in  his  Report  as  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Board 
of  Education  in  1838,  wrote  as  follows,  in  relation  to  the  actual  con- 


90  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

dition  of  the  schools :  "  It  appeared  from  facts  ascertained  during 
the  last  part  of  the  year  1837,  and  communicated  by  me  to  the 
Board,  January  1st,  1838,  that  the  common  school  system  of  Massa- 
chusetts had  fallen  into  a  state  of  general  unsoundness  and  debility  ; 
that  a  great  majority  of  the  school-houses  were  not  only  ill-adapted 
to  encourage  mental  effort,  but  in  many  cases  were  absolutely  peril- 
ous to  the  health  and  symmetrical  growth  of  the  children ;  that  the 
schools  were  under  a  sleepy  supervision  ;  that  many  of  the  most 
wealthy  and  intelligent  of  our  citizens  had  become  estranged  from 
their  welfare ;  and  that  the  teachers,  although,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions, persons  of  estimable  character  and  great  private  worth,  yet  in 
the  absence  of  all  opportunities  for  the  most  difficult  and  delicate 
task  which  is  committed  to  human  hands,  were  necessarily,  and 
therefore  without  fault  of  their  own,  deeply  and  widely  deficient 
in  the  two  indispensable  prerequisites  for  their  office,  viz :  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  human  mind,  as  the  subject  of  improvement,  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  means  best  adapted  wisely  to  unfold  and  direct  its 
governing  faculties." 

What  Mr.  Mann  found  to  be  the  state  of  things  in  Massachusetts, 
Dr.  Barnard,  when  he  became  Secretary  of  the  Connecticut  Board 
of  Education,  found  in  that  Commonwealth.  Provision  had  there 
been  early  made  for  the  institution  and  support  of  schools,  at  first 
without  enforcement  by  penalties;  but  these  at  a  later  date  were 
found  necessary,  and  were  added.  After  referring  to  these  several 
enactments,  the  late  Professor  Kingsley,  of  Yale  College,  in  his  "  His- 
torical Discourse,"  goes  on  to  say  that  "  from  this  detail,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  introduction  of  the  common  school  system  was  a  work 
of  time  and  unwearied  effort.  By  perseverance,  however,  the  bene- 
fits of  education  were  finally  perceived  and  acknowledged  by  all.  A 
school  was  brought  to  every  man's  door ;  the  poor,  and  even  the 
slave,  were  within  the  reach  of  instruction  ;  and  hence,  for  nearly  a 
century  and  a  half,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  of  mature  age,  unable  to 
'  read  the  English  tongue/  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  prodigy."  It 
was  a  great  falling  away  from  this  that  Dr.  Barnard  described  in  his 
first  annual  report,  presented  May,  1839.  In  tnat  report  he  said— 
"There  is  no  attempt  to  enforce  the  law.  Hence  our  prisons  and 
poorhouses  number  among  their  inmates  many  natives  of  the  State, 
brought  up  within  sight  of  the  district  schools,  who  cannot  read  or 
write  ;  and  official  returns  show  that  we  have  thousands  who  were  in 
no  school  whatever  in  the  course  of  the  past  winter  and  summer." 

Tt  was  quite  time   therefore,  that  the  work  of  arousing  the  public 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  91 

mind  to  the  need  of  a  wide  and  vigorous  reform  were  undertaken. 
It  was  necessary,  at  the  same  time,  to  take  care  that  a  right  direction 
should  be  given  to  awakened  thought  and  feeling,  by  the  thorough 
discussion  of  the  subject  in  its  various  relations,  and  the  gathering 
up  of  the  results  of  the  experiments  made  elsewhere  for  the  sake  of 
the  light  they  might  afford.  Dr.  Barnard  evidently  gave  himself  to 
the  work  with  the  enthusiasm  of  an  Apostle.  Commencing  the  Con- 
necticut Common  School  Journal  in  1838,  he  entered  at  once  with 
ability  on  the  fundamental  questions  pertaining  to  Popular  Education, 
and  began  to  publish  for  the  benefit  of  all  educators,  and  others  in- 
terested, the  most  valuable  information  as  to  what  had  been  done  in 
Europe,  and  the  aims  and  methods  of  the  best  systems  and  institu- 
tions there.  In  his  repeated  visits  to  the  principal  countries  of  the 
old  world,  he  has  examined  for  himself  the  experiments  in  progress, 
and  by  personal  communication  with  the  most  prominent  educators 
of  Germany  and  Switzerland,  has  possessed  himself  of  their  best 
and  broadest  views.  The  results  of  his  observations  and  thinking, 
he  has,  for  a  long  course  of  years,  been  carefully  digesting  and  pub- 
lishing in  his  Common  School  Journal,  and  in  the  invaluable  volumes 
of  his  American  Journal  of  Education.  These  volumes  constitute 
an  Encyclopaedia  of  facts,  arguments,  and  practical  methods  which  no 
organizer  or  teacher  can  afford  to  be  without.  Besides  the  prepara- 
tion of  these  works,  Dr.  Barnard  has  delivered  lectures  and  addresses 
on  his  favorite  subject  numbered  literally  by  thousands.  Probably 
no  one  man  in  the  United  States  has  done  as  much  to  advance,  di- 
rect and  consolidate  the  movement  for  popular  education.  In  look- 
ing back  to  the  commencement  of  his  life-long  labors,  it  would  seem 
that  he  must  contemplate  with  eminent  satisfaction  the  progress  of 
public  sentiment  and  the  good  results  already  attained,  as  well  as 
the  brightening  prospects  for  the  future.  He  has  done  a  work  for 
which  his  country  and  coming  generations  ought  to  thank  him  and 
do  honor  to  his  name.  The  late  Chancellor  Kent,  even  in  the  earlier 
years  of  Dr.  Barnard's  labors,  characterized  him  as  "  the  most  able, 
efficient,  and  best-informed  officer  that  could  be  engaged  perhaps  in 
the  service  ;"  and  said  of  the  earlier  volumes  of  his  Journal  and 
other  publications,  "  I  can  only  refer  to  these  documents  with  the 
highest  opinion  of  their  value."*  The  later  volumes  are  much  more 
complete  and  valuable  than  the  earlier. 

As  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  such  leaders  as  those  to  whom  we 
have  referred,  the  progressive  movement  for  popular  education  in  this 

*  Kent's  Commentaries,  Vol.  II.,  yth  Ed.,  p.  197. 


92  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

country  has  been  healthful  and  as  rapid  as  could  reasonably  have 
been  expected.  The  policy  of  the  General  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  from  the  first  been  liberal  as  regards  provision  for  educa- 
tion. In  admitting  the  new  States,  Congress  has  made  it  a  condition 
that  in  each  township  a  section  of  land  should  be  set  apart  for  the 
support  of  public  schools.  The  State  governments  also  have  pro- 
vided by  law  for  the  interests  of  common  education ;  and  though  in 
several  of  the  States  the  provision  is  practically  far  from  being  ade- 
quate, yet  the  current  of  public  sentiment  is  setting  strongly  in  the 
right  direction.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  from  the  census  of  1870,  that 
there  were  then  in  the  United  States  more  than  six  and  a  half  mill- 
ions of  pupils  in  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand 
schools,  taught  by  upwards  of  two  hundred  and  nineteen  thousand 
teachers  ;  and  that  one  hundred  and  fourteen  Normal  Schools  were 
in  operation,  only  two  States  remaining  without.  The  influence  of  the 
Normal  Schools  appears  in  the  marked  improvement  of  the  common 
schools  under  the  care  of  the  teachers  they  have  furnished.  To 
these  encouraging  signs  of  progress  may  be  added  the  organization 
of  a  great  number  of  teachers'  associations  and  conventions,  meeting 
at  stated  times  for  the  purpose  of  discussion  and  the  comparison  of 
views  and  practical  experiences ;  the  great  improvement  in  school- 
books,  apparatus  and  methods  of  instruction  ;  the  increased  respect 
paid  to  the  office  of  a  teacher,  and  the  deeper  interest  in  the  whole  sub- 
ject exhibited  by  parents,  by  eminent  public  men,  and  by  the  press. 
It  is  sufficiently  humiliating  to  learn  from  Commissioner  Eaton,  that 
there  are  still  at  the  very  least  a  million  and  a  half  of  wholly  illiterate 
adult  males  in  the  United  States ;  yet  one  cannot  well  note  what  is 
actually  going  forward  in  the  way  of  educational  improvement  and 
not  anticipate  the  speedy  coming  of  a  better  period.  That  we  can- 
not as  a  people  rest  content  till  ample  provision  for  Universal  Educa- 
tion has  not  only  been  made,  but  rendered  generally  effectual,  seems 
now  to  be  quite  certain. 

The  true  system  of  means  and  agencies  for  the  attainment  of  this 
great  end  must  accomplish  the  following  things : 

1.  It  must  secure  to  the  whole  people  such  elementary  education 
and  training  as  all  alike  need  for  the  common  offices  and  the  ordinary 
industries  of  life. 

2.  Such  as  shall  prepare  those  who  wish  to  apply  themselves  to  all 
kinds  of  labor  requiring  special  skill,  to  the  highest  forms  of  mercan- 
tile and   general  business,  to  the  learned  professions  and  to  public 
life,  to  do  so  intelligently  and  without  waste  of  time  and  power 


UNIVERSALEDUCATION.  93 

3.  Such  as  shall  render  it  easy,  in  every  department  of  labor,  to 
turn  to  the  best  account  the  various  resources  of  Art  and  the  pos- 
sible practicable  applications  of  the  Sciences. 

4.  Such  as  shall   effectively  stimulate  observation,  invention  and 
discovery,  and  so  help  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  knowledge. 

5.  Such  as   will  supply  the   requisite  number   of    accomplished 
teachers  of  all  grades,  from  the  primary  school  to  the  university. 

6.  Such  as  will  enable  the  student  who  desires  to  do  so  to  advance 
to  the  highest  range  of  scholarship,  in  the  largest  meaning  of  that 
term. 

7.  And  finally,  such   as  will  secure  a  liberal  moral  and  religious 
culture  to  all  classes. 

Fully  to  prepare  and  to  put  into  operation  a  system  of  appliances 
that  can  do  all  this,  must  of  course  be  a  work  of  time  and  a  result  of 
patient  and  unwearied  effort.  But  great  as  the  task  is,  when  one  con- 
siders its  relation  to  national  well-being  and  to  the  advancement  of 
the  race  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  it  can  and  must  be  accom- 
plished. That  it  has  been  earnestly  begun,  may  well  awaken  thank- 
fulness and  lend  fresh  inspiration  to  the  zeal  of  those  who  appreciate 
its  moral  grandeur. 

The  comprehensive  statement  just  made  of  what  is  essential  to 
Universal  Education  includes,  it  will  be  noticed,  provision  for  all  grades 
of  culture,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.*  In  the  advance  of  the 
educational  movement,  there  must  of  course  be  a  working  upward, 
till  the  colleges  and  universities,  including  in  these  the  polytechnic 
and  professional  schools,  are  fully  developed  and  the  highest  wants 
are  provided  for ;  and  a  working  downward,  till  the  common  schools 
and  the  schools  of  purely  elementary  and  practical  arts  and  industries 
are  made  as  perfect  as  possible  and  the  lowest  wants  are  met.  It  is 
not  our  present  purpose  to  refer  to  the  higher  forms  of  education. 
An  able  writer,  we  understand,  will  treat  of  these  in  an  Article 
of  a  future  number  of  this  Review.  It  is  in  reaching  the  great 

*  It  has  not  been  necessary,  in  the  modern  educational  advance,  to  insist  on  the  value 
of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning.  This  was  already  well  understood.  The  spirit  of 
progress  has,  however,  reached  and  agitated  these.  They  have  been  moved  to  add  to  the 
colleges,  faculties  of  Science  and  Art  with  reference  to  their  practical  applications  ;  to  pro- 
duce and  use  far  better  text-books  and  more  extensive  and  ingenious  apparatus,  and  to 
adopt  better  methods  of  instruction.  Men  of  wealth  have  been  led,  with  a  munificence  be- 
fore unknown,  to  give  large  sums  for  the  erection  of  buildings,  the  enlargement  of  libraries 
and  cabinets,  and  the  endowment  of  new  and  special  chairs  of  instruction.  The  result  of 
these  things  has  been,  in  the  older  institutions,  like  Yale  and  Harvard,  some  decided  pro 
gress  towards  a  realization  of  the  true  idea  of  a  University. 


94  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

masses  of  the  people,  and  especially  the  laboring  classes,  that  the 
chief  difficulties  must  be  encountered  and  the  most  notable  transfor- 
mations wrought.  Let  the  common  schools  of  the  country  be  made 
numerous  enough  and  such  in  character  as  they  should  be,  and  the 
higher  education  will  take  care  of  itself.  The  force  of  public  senti- 
ment will  be  sufficient  to  secure  the  liberal  endowment  of  the  needed 
institutions,  and  to  give  them  proper  shape. 

At  this  point,  then,  we  reach  the  great  practical  question — How  is 
the  universal  attendance  of  the  young  on  the  means  of  popular  edu- 
cation to  be  secured  ?  It  is  just  here  that  there  is  at  the  present  time, 
as  it  would  seem,  the  greatest  need  of  light,  or  at  least  of  strong 
convictions.  The  subject  is  sometimes  treated  without  a  due  regard 
to  its  intrinsic  difficulties.  It  has  been  thought  that  what  is  so  much 
to  be  desired  might  be  accomplished  in  a  very  summary  way  by  the 
sheer  force  of  law  ;  as  if  nothing  were  needed  but  compulsory  enact- 
ments. The  idea  of  compulsory  education  is  by  no  means  a  modern 
one.  It  is  at  least  as  old  as  Plato.  In  the  Laws,  the  Athenian 
Stranger  is  made  to  say  :* 

"  In  these  several  schools  let  there  be  dwellings  for  teachers  who  shall  be 
brought  from  foreign  parts  by  pay  ;  and  let  them  teach  the  frequenters  of  the 
school  the  art  of  war  and  the  art  of  music ;  and  they  shall  come  not  only  if- 
their  parents  please  but  if  they  do  not  please  ;  and  if  then  education  is  neg- 
lected, there  shall  be  compulsory  education  of  all  and  sundry,  as  the  saying 
is,  so  far  as  this  is  possible  ;  and  the  pupils  shall  be  regarded  as  belonging 
to  the  State  rather  than  their  parents." 

In  the  modern  educational  movement,  the  question  of  compulsory 
education  has  of  course  become  an  immediately  practical  one.  On  the 
one  hand,  we  have  the  fact  that  in  this  country,  where  the  execution 
of  the  laws  depends  so  much  on  public  opinion,  though  compulsory 
statutes — those  of  Connecticut  for  example — availed  for  a  time,  as 
stated  by  Professor  Kingsley,  yet  at  last  when  the  public  grew  indif- 
ferent, they  proved  wholly  ineffectual.  On  the  other  hand  it  appears 
that  compulsory  laws  with  a  strong  government  to  enforce  them,  as  in 
Prussia,  have  produced  excellent  results.  The  effect  of  legislation,  in 
such  a  matter,  must  obviously  depend  very  much  on  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  experiment  is  made.  Statutes,  however  stringent, 
are  likely  to  accomplish  very  little  unless  some  power  behind  sustains 
and  gives  them  force. 

On  the  whole,  we  incline  to  the  opinion  that  here  in  the  United 
States,  it  would  be  nearly  or  quite  as  great  an  error  to  attempt  to  se- 

*  Plato's  Laws,  Jowett's  Trans.,  Book  7.,  p.  732. 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  95 

cure  Universal  Education  by  relying  chiefly  on  legislation,  as  it  would 
be  to  leave  parents  and  children  entirely  free  to  use  or  to  neglect 
educational  provisions.  We  believe  fully  in  coercion  as  a  necessary 
element  in  a  complete  educational  system  ;  but  there  is  much  that 
in  the  order  of  importance  should  be  placed  before  it.  There  is  need 
of  practical  wisdom  in  the  adjustment  of  means  to  the  end  proposed. 
Much  maybe  done  that  will  help  to  reduce  the  necessity  for  coercive 
measures  to  the  narrowest  possible  limits.  If  the  idea  of  compulsion 
is  put  in  the  foreground  and  made  too  prominent,  it  is  very  likely  to 
produce  the  impression  in  the  popular  mind  that  to  educate  children 
is  an  unwelcome  duty,  like  that  of  paying  taxes  ;  and  so  to  cause  it 
to  be  regarded  with  repugnance.  The  statute  should  press  only  as 
the  adjunct  and  complement  of  sound  views  wrought  into  the  popu- 
lar mind  and  heart ;  together  with  all  persuasive  and  generous  influ- 
ences so  brought  to  bear  as  to  move  the  better  portion  of  the  people 
to  do  gladly  and  thankfully  what,  for  the  sake  of  the  remaining  por- 
tion, the  law  must  positively  command. 

The  truth  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  basis  and  starting 
point  for  the  Universal  Education  of  the  people  is  the  family.  Though 
the  individual  may  be  regarded  as  the  unit  of  social  life,  the  family  is 
the  unit  of  social  organization.  By  the  law  of  nature  children  are 
placed,  in  their  earliest  and  most  impressible  years,  under  the  care 
and  control  of  parents.  Their  education,  for  good  or  evil,  will  inevita- 
bly begin  under  the  influences  so  supplied  ;  and  parents  have,  or  may 
have,  by  far  the  most  effective  agency  in  determining  what  their  chil 
dren  shall  be  when  they  shall  have  grown  up  to  mature  years.  They 
have,  too,  a  deeper  interest  in  the  future  of  their  children  than  any 
one  else  can  have.  Says  Chancellor  Kent ; 

"  Without  some  preparation  made  in  youth  for  the  sequel  of  life,  children 
of  all  conditions  would  probably  become  idle  and  vicious  when  they  grow 
up,  either  from  the  want  of  good  instruction  and  habits,  and  the  means  of 
subsistence,  or  from  want  of  rational  and  useful  occupation.  A  parent  who 
sends  his  son  into  the  world  uneducated,  and  without  skill  in  any  art  or 
science,  does  great  injury  to  mankind,  as  well  as  to  his  own  family;  for  he 
defrauds  the  community  of  a  useful  citizen  and  bequeaths  to  it  a  nuisance. 
This  parental  duty  is  strongly  inculcated  by  the  writers  on  natural  law. 
Solon  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  force  of  the  obligation  that  he  even 
excused  the  children  of  Athens  from  maintaining  their  parents,  if  they  had 
neglected  to  train  them  up  to  some  art  or  profession."  * 

Christianity  likewise  distinctly  recognizes,  and  enforces  with  its 
sanctions,  the  responsibility  of  parents  for  the  suitable  training  of 

*  Kent's  Commentaries,  Vol.   II.,  yth  ed.,p.  187-8. 


96  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

their  children.     By  special  precepts  it  in  fact  constitutes  the  family  a 
school. 

The  first  step,  therefore,  towards  Universal  Education  is  to  act  on 
parental  judgment  and  affection  ;  to  awaken  in  the  minds  of  parents  the 
conviction  that  with  them  it  rests  to  determine,  in  great  measure,  the 
failure  or  success  of  their  children  in  coming  life  ;  and  to  show  them  the 
necessity  of  earnest  effort  to  secure  for  them,  in  addition  to  home  train- 
ing, the  best  possible  educational  advantages.  When  once  their  interest 
has  been  awakened,  and  they  are  led  to  notice  that  other  children  in 
circumstances  like  those  of  their  own  households,  by  availing  themselves 
of  the  means  of  education  placed  within  their  reach,  have  been  enabled 
steadily  to  rise  till  they  have  attained  the  highest  positions,  the 
largest  wealth,  the  greatest  honor  and  influence ;  to  gain,  in  short, 
what  are  regarded  as  the  highest  prizes  of  life  :  when  they  see  that 
the  artists,  the  men  of  science,  the  scholars,  the  poets,  orators  and 
statesmen,  to  whom  the  world  does  homage,  have  ascended  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest  of  human  conditions  by  means  of  personal  train- 
ing and  culture,  they  will,  as  a  matter  of  course,  become  eager  to  se- 
cure for  their  own  children  the  benefits  of  education.  Great  numbers 
of  parents,  if  proper  pains  be  taken,  may  so  be  taught  to  claim  it  as 
their  right — far  better  than  to  have  them  driven  to  it  as  a  duty — to 
secure  for  their  sons  and  daughters  every  advantage  that  the  best 
public  schools,  and  afterwards  perhaps  the  higher  institutions,  can 
bestow. 

It  may  be  thought  that  this  method  of  beginning  with  the  family 
will  prove  too  slow ;  that  to  wait  till  parents  shall  have  learned  to 
demand  that  provision  be  made  for  the  education  of  their  children, 
will  be  to  defer  indefinitely  the  day  when  the  means  of  culture  shall 
be  enjoyed  by  all.  To  this  objection  two  answers  may  be  given. 
First,  that  were  this  true,  it  is  none  the  less  beginning  where  alone, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  a  sure  foundation  for  Universal  Education  can 
be  laid;  so  that  it  were  best  to  adopt  this  course,  although  it  would 
take  longer.  But  secondly,  that  if  once  it  be  clearly  understood  that 
this  is  the  primary  thing  to  be  done,  and  the  efforts  of  those  who 
would  promote  the  cause  of  education  were  energetically  turned  in 
this  direction,  it  need  not  require  so  very  long  a  time  to  enlighten 
and  move  the  majority  of  parents.  Even  now  it  is  often  seen  that 
parental  solicitude  prompts  the  common  laborer,  himself  uneducated, 
not  only  to  desire,  but  to  make  great  sacrifices  to  secure  for  his  chil- 
dren the  educational  advantages  which  may  prepare  them  to  rise  in 
the  social  scale,  and  become,  in  the  various  contests  of  life,  the  rivals 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  97 

of  the  best.  What  then  might  not  be  looked  for,  if  systematic  and 
effective  means  to  enlighten  them  were  used ;  if  courses  of  popular 
lectures,  for  example,  were  arranged  in  a  way  to  reach  the  many  who 
need  to  be  instructed  on  the  subject ;  if  by  friendly  visitation  in 
their  homes,  they  were  approached  with  persuasive  words  ;  if  simple 
tracts  and  books,  prepared  for  the  special  purpose,  were  placed  in 
every  family  where  there  was  any  one  who  could  read  ;  and  above 
all,  if  the  various  Christian  Churches,  conscious  of  a  high  responsi- 
bility in  relation  to  the  matter,  would  co-operate  vigorously  in  the 
work  ;  and  the  ministers  of  religion,  and  the  great  army  of  Sabbath- 
school  teachers,  would  faithfully  teach  the  inexpressible  value  of 
education  to  all  classes?  We  hold  it  certain,  that  if  the  masses  who 
to  a  great  extent  neglect  to  seek  a  proper  training  for  their  children, 
were  approached  on  the  subject  of  education  as  a  right  to  be  justly 
claimed,  and  a  great  and  precious  benefit,  with  something  like  the 
earnestness  and  perseverance  that  have  been  exhibited  in  relation  to 
temperance,  for  example,  it  would  not  be  found  difficult  to  enkindle 
in  the  minds  of  great  numbers,  now  indifferent,  a  strength  of  desire, 
an  enthusiasm  even,  in  behalf  of  education,  that  would  speedily  and 
greatly  swell  the  ranks  of  pupils  in  our  schools.  The  movement 
once  begun,  moreover,  might  be  expected  to  advance  as  if  in  geomet- 
rical progression.  Almost  nothing  has  as  yet  been  attempted  ini 
this  direction.  The  experiment  should  faithfully  be  made. 

While  endeavoring  to  bring  parental  influence  to  aid  spontane- 
ously in  securing  attendance  on  the  public  schools,  the  schools  them- 
selves must  be  invested  with  an  attractiveness  which  shall  be  a  posi- 
tive element  of  power.  The  locality,  the  edifice  and  architectural, 
arrangements,  the  methods  of  government  and  instruction,  the  entire 
atmosphere  and  genius  of  the  place  must  be  made  such  as  to  invite 
attendance.  The  reverse  of  this  was  very  generally  found  to  be  the- 
case  by  Mr.  Mann,  in  Massachusetts,  and  by  Dr.  Barnard,  in  Connecti- 
cut. The  common  school  house  of  forty  years  ago,  even  in  the  best 
rural  districts  of  New  England,  was  too  generally  placed  on  a  site 
appropriated  to  this  purpose  apparently  because  it  was  good  for  noth- 
ing else.  It  might  be  on  a  naked  rock,  a  barren  sand  or  clay  bank, 
or  a  piece  of  bog  meadow,  without  inclosure,  shade,  or  ornament ; 
hot  as  an  oven  beneath  its  low  roof  in  the  summer,  and  in  the  winter 
half-warmed  with  its  open  fire-place.  In  the  cities,  of  course,  the  state 
of  things  was  better,  but  almost  everywhere  it  was  bad.  Within  the 
unsightly  edifice  were  found  seats  hardly  more  comfortable  to  sit  in 
than  the  stocks,  and  much  too  commonly  an  almost  ferocious  severity 


98  UNIVERSALEDUCATION. 

of  discipline.  With  honorable  exceptions,  the  teachers  knew  com- 
paratively little  of  the  art  of  teaching,  or  of  the  pleasant  devices 
which  it  belongs  to  that  art  to  employ  in  relieving  monotony  by  well- 
adjusted  change,  and  breathing  over  all  a  spirit  of  cheerful  animation. 
No  wonder  that  children  shrank  from  leaving  home,  especially  when 
that  was  bright  and  happy,  to  spend  long  hours  each  day  where  all 
was  sombre  and  forbidding.  Let  the  location  of  the  school-house 
be  pleasant,  healthful  and  convenient ;  let  its  architecture  and  out- 
ward aspect,  its  surrounding  trees  and  shrubbery,  when  these  are 
possible,  its  walks  and  its  playgrounds,  and  all  its  internal  economy 
and  arrangements,  be  such  as  true  taste  and  fitness  will  approve ; 
and  above  all,  let  the  teacher  be  one  who  practically  understands  the 
art  of  combining  the  necessary  authority  with  a  spirit  of  refinement, 
gentleness,  and  love ;  and  the  place  will  have  a  charm  about  it 
which  both  parents  and  children  will  not  fail  to  recognize.  One 
of  the  earliest  attempts  that  we  remember  to  make  a  large  school 
positively  attractive  and  enjoyable,  was  that  of  Mr.  Jacob  Abbott  at 
the  Mt.  Vernon  school  in  Boston,  a  private  school,  established  up- 
wards of  forty  years  ago.  As  it  was  in  the  midst  of  a  city  there  was 
nothing  external  to  distinguish  it ;  but  its  arrangement  of  studies, 
its  variety  of  duties,  its  well-timed  recreations,  its  perfect  order,  which 
.made  the  whole  appear  as  if  moved  by  unseen  clockwork,  and  the 
kindly  and  genial  spirit  that  seemed  entirely  to  pervade  the  place, 
gave  it  to  the  pupils  the  attractiveness  of  a  social  gathering  for  the 
enjoyment  of  a  refined  and  noble  pleasure.  By  similar  means,  even 
in  the  heart  of  the  City  of  New  York,  the  Twenty-seventh  Street 
public  school  has  for  a  long  time  been  kept  crowded ;  the  parents 
being  eager  to  send  their  children,  and  the  children  counting  it  a 
hardship  to  be  excluded.  It  will  be  an  immense  advantage  gained, 
when  to  the  minds  of  parents  and  children  generally,  the  public 
school  shall  seem  surrounded  with  a  lustrous  halo,  and  connected 
with  all  sorts  of  pleasant  associations. 

Of  course  it  is  impossible  that  any  school  should  bear  the  charac- 
ter now  indicated,  unless  it  be  thoroughly  permeated  by  a  moral  at- 
mosphere that  is  felt,  by  all  who  come  in  contact  with  it,  to  be  posi- 
tively pure  and  salutary.  There  has  been  no  little  discussion,  and 
some  excited  feeling,  in  relation  to  the  opening  of  the  daily  sessions 
of  the  public  schools  with  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  and  some 
simple  religious  exercises.  We  do  not  propose  to  discuss  that  sub- 
ject here.  To  do  so  would  oblige  us  to  exceed  our  limits.  There 
are,  no  doubt,  serious  difficulties  to  be  met  in  reaching  an  adjustment 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  99 

of  it  that  shajl  prove  generally  satisfactory.  Yet  we  cannot  but 
think  there  are  none  that  may  not  be  surmounted  without  infringing 
the  rights  or  wounding  the  consciences  of  any,  if  the  matter  be  ap- 
proached in  a  just  and  kindly  spirit.  But  leaving  this  great  question 
to  be  decided  in  the  light  of  full  discussion  and  large  experience,  we 
earnestly  maintain,  that  the  elementary  principles  of  moral  philoso- 
phy, and  the  ethical  rules  that  must  practically  determine  the  spirit 
and  conduct  of  every  well-ordered  life,  are  an  absolutely  essential 
part  of  the  course  of  popular  instruction  and  discipline  ;  and  that 
the  omission  to  teach  these  faithfully,  cannot  be  justified  on  any 
ground  whatever.  A  thousand  children  are  brought  together  into 
one  of  our  city  schools.  As  they  come  from  their  homes,  many  of 
them  from  their  miserable  dens  that  do  not  deserve  that  name,  they 
form  a  heterogeneous  multitude,  a  large  part  of  whom  have  received 
no  wholesome  instruction,  and  of  course  have  no  distinct  conception 
of  what  good  morals  and  refined  manners  do  really  require.  There 
may  be  among  them  manyjewels  in  the  rough.  But  how  are  these 
young — it  may  almost  literally  be  said — semi-barbarians,  to  be  fash- 
ioned by  the  school  into  modest,  well-behaved,  and  to  a  reasonable 
extent,  refined  and  virtuous  boys  and  girls?  Is  there  the  least  hope 
that  any  such  result  can  be  attained  without  giving  them  careful  in- 
struction as  to  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  and  as  to 
what  constitutes,  in  minute  detail,  good  conduct,  cultivated  or  at 
least  becoming  manners,  and  pure  morals?  It  cannot  be  done  by 
the  mere  force  of  authority  and  command.  The  moral  nature  must 
itself  be  quickened,  conscience  and  sensibility  developed,  right  im- 
pulses and  worthy  aspirations  awakened  and  directed,  and  the  per- 
ception of  what  is  excellent  and  beautiful  in  character  made  as  defi- 
nite as  possible.  So  far  as  this  is  done,  the  influence  of  the  teacher 
is  increased,  and  the  difficulties  of  his  work  diminished.  His  words 
of  counsel  will  have  greater  weight  and  his  rules  and  drill  will  be 
more  effective.  Law  and  order  will  be  sustained  by  the  convictions, 
and  the  tastes  even,  of  the  great  body  of  the  pupils.  A  school  in 
which  the  pupils  are  wisely  and  persistently  taught  good  morals  and 
good  manners,  as  an  essential  part  of  the  course  of  daily  instruction, 
and  inspired  with  a  laudable  ambition  to  exemplify  these  in  them- 
selves, will  steadily  become  homogeneous,  more  plastic  to  the  teacher, 
and  more  happy  and  successful  in  its  study.  There  will  be  little 
difficulty  in  drawing  pupils  to  such  a  school. 

In  determining  the  internal  arrangements,  method  and  spirit  of  a 
school,  the  teacher  will  necessarily  be  the  central  force.     It  will  not 


100  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

be  possible  to  make  such  schools  as  will  win  and  hold  the  popular 
favor,  without  teachers  that  understand  their  business;  teachers  that 
to  an  acquaintance  with  the  branches  of  knowledge  to  be  taught,  add 
also  agreeable  manners,  self-control,  tact  iu  organization  and  govern- 
ment, practical  skill  in  the  art  of  teaching,  and  a  true  enthusiasm  in 
their  work.  In  the  earlier  days  of  the  present  educational  movement 
very  few  such  could  be  found.  Even  now,  the  supply  is  compara- 
tively limited,  after  all  that  has  been  done  in  the  establishment  of 
Normal  Schools.  Of  the  large  number  of  these  schools  reported  as  in 
operation  throughout  the  United  States,  a  few  are  well  organized  and 
offer  those  who  desire  to  teach  the  means  of  an  adequate  training, 
theoretical  and  practical,  for  their  vocation.  But  many  that  are  called 
Normal  Schools,  are  but  very  partially  what  the  name  implies.  It 
is  indispensable  to  an  advance  towards  Universal  Education,  that  the 
schools  for  the  training  of  teachers  already  existing  should  be  made 
in  the  highest  possible  degree  thorough  and  effective,  and  that  many 
more  should  be  added  to  the  number;  and  then  that  care  should  be 
taken  by  those  who  are  choosing  teachers  to  accept  such  only — unless 
it  be  in  cases  of  sheer  necessity — as  have  availed  themselves  of  the 
advantages  of  those  preparatory  institutions.  By  demanding  of  those 
who  would  engage  in  the  business  of  teaching  the  evidence  that  they 
have  faithfully  submitted  themselves  to  the  theoretical  drill  and  the 
experimental  routine  of  the  genuine  Normal  School,  or  done  what  is 
equivalent  to  this,  two  great  advantages  will  be  secured : — a  higher 
type  of  teachers  will  be  found  generally  in  the  places  of  instruction, 
and  the  profession  of  teaching  will  become,  as  it  should,  more  honora 
ble  in  public  estimation  and  more  remunerative  to  those  who  are 
successful  in  it  and  accept  it  as  their  life-work.  It  is  impossible  to 
make  the  position  of  a  teacher  such  in  the  popular  judgment  that 
men  of  a  high  order  of  talent  shall  deem  it  worth  their  while  to 
choose  it  for  life,  as  one  of  commanding  influence  and  yielding  satisfac- 
tory rewards,  except  by  elevating  the  average  standard  of  qualification 
for  teaching,  and  by  sending  forth  from  Normal  Schools  of  the  very 
highest  character  large  numbers  who  are  able  to  vindicate  their  right 
to  respect  and  recompense.  The  more  of  such  teachers  are  furnished, 
the  more  the  priceless  value  of  education  will  be  seen  of  all,  and  the 
more  easily  will  its  influence  be  extended  throughout  society.  We 
are  on  the  right  track,  in  this  department  of  educational  progress  ; 
but  advanced  educators,  who  are  leaders  of  public  opinion,  should 
not  rest  satisfied  till  the  whole  country  has  a  system  of  Normal 
Schools  as  complete  as  it  can  be  made. 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  101 

But  even  the  most  perfect  educational  system  cannot  be  expected 
fully  to  accomplish  its  ends  so  as  to  commend  itself  permanently  to 
popular  favor,  without  efficient  superintendence.  That  this  is  indis- 
pensable, experience  has  amply  shown.  Liberal  provision  for  it  has 
accordingly  been  made  in  the  school  legislation  of  the  most  advanced 
States  of  Europe,  the  form  of  it  differing  somewhat  in  different  States, 
but  the  reality  amounting  practically  to  nearly  the  same  thing  in  all. 
Teachers,  even  with  the  best  training  for  their  work,  will  on  trial  de- 
velop different  degrees  of  aptitude.  They  will  always  be  liable  to 
grow  remiss  at  some  particular  points ;  or  to  push  favorite  ideas  and 
theories  too  far ;  or  to  venture  on  unprofitable  experiments,  at  the 
expense  of  loss  of  time  to  the  pupils  and  of  money  to  the  parents; 
or  to  lose  the  progressive  spirit  and  fall  into  mere  routine.  It  is 
therefore  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity  that  there  should  be  official 
and  authoritative  supervision,  by  means  of  which  slight  aberrations 
should  be  seasonably  corrected,  a  sense  of  responsibility  maintained, 
and  the  vital  forces  of  each  school  kept  perpetually  in  play.  Happi- 
ly, under  the  General  Government  in  the  United  States  there  is  now 
a  department  of  education,  at  the  head  of  which  is  an  able  and  ener- 
getic Commissioner,  Mr.  John  Eaton,  Jr.  ;  not  exercising  a  direct  su- 
perintendence over  particular  schools,  but  over  the  general  adjustment 
and  working  of  the  entire  system  ;  collecting,  and  publishing  in  elab- 
orately prepared  annual  reports,  the  statistics  and  history  of  progress 
made,  and  doing  whatever  can  be  done  by  such  an  officer  to  en- 
lighten the  public  mind,  in  relation  to  national  education,  and  give  to 
the  efforts  of  educators  a  wise  direction.  Each  of  the  States,  with  the 
exception  of  Maryland,  has  now  a  Superintendent.  The  State  Super- 
intendents, of  course,  come  into  closer  relation  to  the  teachers  and 
the  schools.  Where  Superintendents  of  cities  and  towns  have  been 
provided — and  they  have  been  in  many  towns  and  cities  and  ought 
to  be  to  the  greatest  practicable  extent — they  are  able,  by  immediate 
contact  with  teachers  and  schools,  to  suggest,  direct,  and  stimulate,  as 
may  be  needful.  If  the  Superintendents  are  qualified  for  their  posi- 
tion and  exercise  a  constant  and  faithful  supervision,  the  result  is  sure 
to  appear  in  the  high  discipline,  the  thoroughness  of  instruction  and 
training,  and  the  healthful  atmosphere  and  moral  beauty  of  the 
schools. 

In  proportion  as  the  public  schools  are  made  to  realize  the  ideal 
of  what  such  institutions  ought  to  be,  the  number  of  private 
schools  will  undoubtedly  diminish.  These  have  multiplied  to  so 
great  an  extent,  because  the  public  schools  were  not  of  a  character 


102  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

to  satisfy  intelligent  parents ;  and  the  withdrawing,  on  this  account, 
of  large  numbers  of  the  better  class  of  pupils,  has  in  turn  helped  on 
still  further  the  process  of  deterioration.  But  with  the  best  public 
schools,  there  will  probably  always  be  some  parents  who  for  one  rea 
son  or  another  will  still  prefer  schools  of  their  own  arranging.  In  secur- 
ing an  adequate  education  to  every  child,  each  State  should  of  course 
provide  by  law  that  the  private,  no  less  than  the  public  schools,  should 
be  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  city,  or  dis- 
trict, within  which  they  are  kept.  It  should  be  his  duty  to  see  that 
the  programme  of  studies  in  the  former  were  at  least  equivalent  to 
that  prescribed  in  the  latter  of  the  same  grade,  and  to  ascertain,  by 
actual  examinations,  that  the  pupils  were  in  good  faith  taught  accord- 
ingly. Otherwise  it  would  be  possible  that  under  the  pretense  of 
attending  private  schools,  many  children  would  grow  up  without  hav- 
ing received  any  valuable  training.  No  such  possibility  should  be 
allowed  to  exist.  While  in  accordance  with  the  free  spirit  of  Ameri- 
can institutions,  entire  liberty  should  be  allowed  to  such  as  may  pre- 
fer to  send  their  children  to  private  schools,  it  belongs  to  the  State  to 
see  that  these  too  have  all  the  advantages  and  safeguards  of  an  im- 
partial supervision.  Without  this  there  can  be  no  certainty  that 
Universal  Education  is  secured. 

That  the  movement  towards  Universal  Education  must  rely  largely 
for  its  success  on  the  things  to  which  we  have  particularly  referred, 
will  not  be  doubted  by  any  who  have  intelligently  given  attention  to 
the  subject.  To  enlighten  and  interest  parents  and  enlist  the  full 
power  of  home  influence  in  favor  of  the  schools  ;  to  make  the  schools 
themselves,  externally  and  internally,  inviting  as  well  as  morally 
healthful;  to  supply  an  adequate  number  of  competent  and  well- 
trained  teachers,  and  to  secure  by  watchful  supervision  over  public 
and  private  schools  alike,  the  right  working  of  the  system  even  to  its 
minute  details,  will  be,  we  believe,  to  bring  a  large  majority  of  the 
children  of  the  country  gladly  to  avail  themselves  of  the  means  of 
education.  These  will  be  likely,  at  least  the  larger  number  of  them, 
to  make  the  most  of  their  opportunities,  because  they  will  have 
learned  to  prize  them  as  related  to  their  own  prospects  for  coming 
life.  Awakened  desire  for  knowledge  will  stimulate  them  more  than 
statutes.  But  what  of  the  remaining  portion — the  minority  of  chil- 
dren, many  of  whom  are  without  home  and  parents,  and  have  no 
chance  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  worth  of  education,  or  with 
the  attractions  of  the  schools ;  or,  worse  still,  who  have  parents  so 
destitute  even  of  the  better  instincts  of  humanity  that,  for  their  own 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  103 

gain,  they  condemn  their  offspring  to  spend  what  should  have  been 
their  years  of  discipline  and  culture,  in  the  manufactory  or  the  work- 
shop ?  To  leave  these  to  their  fate  is  to  permit  the  existence  in  the 
bosom  of  society  of  a  vast  hot-bed  of  all  vice ;  to  perpetuate  a 
school  which  will  unceasingly  educate  and  send  forth  in  abundance 
all  sorts  of  evil-workers.  It  is  for  the  benefit  of  this  class  of  the 
children  of  the  country  chiefly,  that  constraint  must  needs  be  applied. 
Compulsory  laws,  faithfully  enforced,  are  for  them  indispensable. 
Experience  has  shown  this  everywhere.  Let  us  not  be  understood 
as  saying  that  it  is  best  to  wait  till  all  other  means  have  been  fully 
tried,  before  requiring  by  law  that  all  children  at  the  proper  age  shall 
attend  the  schools.  Judicious  laws  to  this  effect  should  be  at  once 
enacted  where  they  have  not  been,  and  inexorably  enforced ;  and  this 
enforcement  ought  to  be  heartily  sustained  by  public  opinion.  We 
have  simply  wished  to  insist  that  in  the  order  of  thought  and  feeling, 
in  the  popular  apprehension  of  the  matter,  compulsory  laws,  instead 
of  being  the  first  things,  should  be  among  the  last ;  that  the  friends 
of  Universal  Education  should  make  it  their  chief  labor  so  to  instruct 
parents  in  relation  to  their  duty  and  to  enlighten  the  public  mind  in 
general,  and  so  to  perfect  the  character  and  working  of  the  schools, 
that  to  the  larger  and  better  portion  of  the  people  it  shall  seem  a 
matter  of  course,  a  privilege  not  to  be  foregone,  that  their  children 
should  diligently  avail  themselves  of  the  means  of  education.  It 
cannot  be  too  strongly  urged  that  there  is  a  great  work  to  be  done  of 
the  kind  which  has  been  indicated  ;  a  work  without  the  faithful  doing 
of  which  we  shall  look  in  vain  to  legislation.  Is  there  not  some 
danger  that  in  giving  legislative  action  too  great  prominence,  and 
turning  our  eyes  too  eagerly  towards  that,  we  may  be  in  some  meas- 
ure diverted  from  the  higher  and  more  essential  work  of  using  direct 
and  effectual  means  to  remove  the  obstacles  to  Universal  Education, 
that  lie  in  the  ignorance  and  prejudice  and  selfishness  of  the  people  ? 
Let  such  means  be  used  far  more  widely,  more  earnestly,  and  with 
more  of  Christian  patriotism  and  philanthropy  than  they  ever  yet 
have  been,  by  all  who  love  their  country  and  their  race ;  and  at  the 
same  time  let  them  be  supplemented  by  wise  laws,  enforced  in  a  kind 
spirit,  but  with  unyielding  firmness.  When  the  absolute  necessity 
not  only  of  providing  the  means  of  education  for  all,  but  of  actually 
educating  every  child — so  far  at  least  as  to  qualify  him  or  her  for  the 
duties  of  ordinary  social  and  civil  life — shall  have  become  a  profound 
conviction  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  great  body  of  the  people, 


104  UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION. 

bve  and  law  will  harmoniously  work  together  for  the  speediest  possi- 
ble attainment  of  the  great  result  desired. 

If  the  vast  work  of  educating  the  entire  population  of  the  United 
States,  so  that  all  classes  shall  be  able  to  meet  the  responsibilities  of 
their  position  under  favorable  conditions,  is  to  be  successfully  carried 
forward,  it  must  be  through  the  combined  efforts  of  educators  and 
other  leaders  of  public  thought  and  feeling  directed  vigorously  to  that 
specific  end.  A  magnanimous  liberality,  broad  and  enlightened 
views,  multiplied  and  reliable  agencies,  a  generously  co-operative 
spirit,  and  indomitable  energy  and  perseverance,  will  be  imperatively 
demanded.  The  more  is  done  in  the  way  of  collecting  and  compar- 
ing the  facts  of  experience,  the  more  there  shall  be  of  candid  and 
searching  discussion  of  principles  and  methods,  the  more  professional 
enthusiasm  is  enkindled  among  teachers,  and  especially,  the  more  the 
power  of  education  to  advance  the  well-being  of  a  people  is  illustrated 
before  the  eyes  of  all,  the  more  rapid  will  be  the  progress  towards 
complete  success.  That  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  country 
is  to  be  accomplished  mainly  by  means  of  the  public  schools,  if  it  be 
done  at  all,  we  believe  to  be  a  thing  entirely  settled  in  the  minds  of 
the  more  intelligent  portion  of  the  American  people.  The  system 
now  in  operation  is  not  going  to  be  broken  up,  that  the  funds  appro- 
priated by  the  General  and  State  governments  may  be  divided  among 
many  paltry  cliques,  but  is  to  be  perfected  in  the  highest  possible 
degree,  and  compacted  into  a  grand  unity.  There  is  a  wholesome 
sensitiveness  in  the  public  mind  in  relation  to  this  matter ;  and  no 
class  of  citizens,  nor  any  political  party,  can  make  the  attempt  to 
overthrow  or  to  cripple  the  public  schools  without  arousing  a  popular 
sentiment  that  will  overwhelm  them  with  mortifying  defeat.  Not 
until,  as  a  nation,  we  have  lost  the  spirit  of  our  ancestors  and  the  love 
of  enlightened  and  salutary  freedom ;  not  until  we  have  become 
basely  degenerate,  and  have  lost  the  honorable  ambition  to  build  up 
on  this  magnificent  domain  that  God  has  given  us  a  nobler  civiliza- 
tion than  the  world  as  yet  has  ever  seen ;  shall  we  suffer  ruthless 
hands  to  be  laid  on  those  provisions  for  the  culture  and  elevation  of 
all,  which  even  now,  though  not  yet  complete,  are  our  glory  and  just 
national  pride.  What  has  been  accomplished  during  the  last  half 
century  justifies  the  best  hopes  for  the  future. 

It  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  clearly  seen  that  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  work  of  extending  education  to  the  whole  people  is 
urged  by  the  highest  considerations.  Political  economy  demands 
that  it  be  done.  The  power  of  each  citizen  to  benefit  the  whole  is 


UNIVERSAL     EDUCATION.  105 

enhanced  tenfold  by  education.  It  will  ordinarily  be  directly  propor- 
tioned to  his  right  discipline  and  knowledge.  Philanthropy  equally 
demands  that  it  be  done.  The  coarseness,  the  depravity,  the  vice 
and  wretchedness  that  characterize  such  multitudes  in  our  towns  and 
cities,  will  only  yield  to  intellectual  and  moral  culture  that  shall 
reach  them  all.  Patriotism  demands  that  it  be  done.  It  is  only  by 
fusing  together  the  elements  supplied  by  the  immigration  from  so 
many  countries,  that  an  American  people  in  a  good  degree  homo- 
geneous in  character,  possessed  by  a  common  spirit,  filled  with  simi- 
lar aspirations,  and  ready  to  co-operate  in  all  that  may  advance  the 
true  prosperity  and  glory  of  their  country,  can  be  formed.  Christi- 
anity demands  that  it  be  done.  She  has  made  known  the  inestima- 
ble worth  of  individual  man,  and  has  asserted  the  obligation  of  the 
rich,  of  those  who  make  and  those  who  administer  the  laws,  and  of 
the  churches  and  the  ministers  of  religion,  to  recognize  in  each  fel- 
low-man a  brother,  and  to  do  whatever  wisdom  and  love  combined 
can  do,  to  elevate  and  bless  those  who  are  born  to  few  advantages. 
We  know  of  nothing  to  which  the  best  gifts  of  genius,  and  the  high- 
est intellectual  and  moral  culture  can  more  worthily  be  consecrated, 
than  this  truly  noble  work  of  bringing  on  as  speedily  as  possible  the 
day  when  popular  education  shall  have  been  made  literally  universal. 
Every  educator,  every  statesman,  every  man  of  wealth  and  personal 
influence,  every  educated  young  man  or  woman,  may  well  count  it 
an  object  worthy  of  the  best  ambition,  to  help  forward  a  work  on 
which,  to  so  great  an  extent,  depends  the  future  well-being,  not  of 
our  own  country  alone,  but  of  the  whole  human  race. 


INDUSTRIAL  ART  EDUCATION  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

IN  matters  of  education,  the  United  States  has  much  to  learn ; 
much  either  to  create  or  to  borrow,  before  it  can  rank  with  the 
leading  countries  of  Europe.  Our  spread-eagle  orators  have  lauded 
the  common-school  system  to  the  skies ;  yet  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant elements  of  any  school  system — compulsory  education — is 
just  beginning  its  career  with  us.  It  has  been  adopted  in  but  half 
a  dozen  States  ;  in  the  others,  public  opinion  has  not  been  lifted 
to  the  necessary  level.  Yet  this  feature  has  been  the  pride  of  the 
Prussian  schools  for  more  than  a  century,  and  is  found  in  many  other 
continental  countries.  But  it  is  in  its  system  of  technical  or  pro- 
fessional education  that  this  country  is  the  most  deficient.  It  is 
no  discredit  that  our  highest  institutions  of  learning  do  not  rival 
those  extensive  universities  of  the  old  world,  such  as  the  university 
in  Vienna  with  its  two  hundred  instructors  and  four  thousand  stu- 
dents, and  nearly  four  hundred  distinct  courses  of  lectures,  cover- 
ing the  entire  realm  of  science,  letters,  philosophy,  and  religion ;  or 
those  magnificent  polytechnic  schools  which  are  found  in  most  of 
the  continental  countries,  such  as  that  at  Carlsruhe,  Baden,  with  its 
more  than  fifty  instructors  and  five  hundred  students,  and  its  well- 
organized  schools  of  mathematics,  engineering,  machine  building, 
architecture,  chemistry,  forestry,  and  agriculture.  These  are  the  out- 
growth of  an  older  civilization,  and  are  not  looked  for  in  new  or  com- 
paratively new  countries.  There  are  also  those  who  may  contend 
that  the  constitution  of  American  society  and  character,  and  the  condi- 
tions of  success  here,  are  not  adapted  to  the  longer  and  more  thorough 
discipline  in  law,  theology,  and  medicine  which  is  required  in  many 
foreign  institutions  ;  that  we  are  a  money-making  people  and  have 
not  time  to  spend  half  our  lives  within  the  academic  walls ;  and  that 
the  average  American  must  see,  not  merely  culture  and  intellectual 
greatness  as  the  reward  of  study,  but  financial  success,  he  must  be 
satisfied  that  his  university  training  will  enlarge  his  facilities  for 
making  money. 


INDUSTRIAL     ART      EDUCATION.  107 

But  it  is  in  this  very  respect  that  the  American  educational  system 
is  the  most  behind  that  of  foreign  countries.  Europe  is  full  of  schools 
that  teach  men  how  to  attain  the  best  results  in  every  department  of 
industry :  the  agriculturist,  how  to  make  the  soil  yield  the  most  and 
the  best ;  the  stock  raiser,  how  to  produce  the  finest  types  of  domes- 
tic animals ;  the  forester,  how  to  make  the  boundless  woods  contribute 
the  most  to  the  general  comfort  and  happiness  ;  the  miner,  how  to 
dig  from  the  earth  its  mineral  riches,  and  the  metallurgist,  how  best 
to  use  them;  the  chemist,  how  to  combine  and  separate  with  the 
most  useful  results ;  the  mariner,  how  to  protect  from  storm  and  wave 
the  rich  commerce  in  his  care  ;  the  manufacturer,  the  best  and  speed- 
iest modes  of  converting  raw  material  into  the  finished  product ; 
the  engineer,  how  to  overcome  apparently  insurmountable  obstacles 
in  nature,  and  give  to  commerce  and  travel  those  magnificent  public 
improvements  such  as  the  Suez  Canal  and  the  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel. 
The  governing  principle  of  all  these  institutions  is,  that  intelligence 
is  the  most  important  element  of  progress  in  every  department  of 
industry ;  that  agriculture,  commerce,  manufacturing  and  mining  are 
based  on  science,  or  are  sciences  in  themselves,  no  less  than  law,  the- 
ology, and  medicine  ;  and  that  it  is  as  important  to  produce  intelligent 
farmers,  miners,  and  manufacturers  as  it  is  to  have  learned  preachers, 
lawyers,  and  doctors.  But  how  far  have  these  technical  or  special 
schools  been  founded  or  borrowed  by  the  Americans,  who  have  not 
the  time  nor  the  patience  for  pure  intellectual  development,  but  must 
see  a  reasonable  financial  promise  in  every  undertaking?  To  what 
extent  have  they  developed  that  system  of  technical  education  which 
is  most  nearly  allied  with  money-making? 

The  importance  of  making  science  subservient  to  agriculture  was 
recognized  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  in  Germany, 
and  now  excellent  agricultural  schools  and  special  schools  of  chemistry 
are  general  throughout  Europe.  In  the  United  States,  a  great  agri- 
cultural country,  deriving  a  large  proportion  of  its  wealth  from  the 
soil,  this  important  branch  of  education  is  in  its  infancy.  Consider 
the  magnificent  schools  of  mines  in  France,  Saxony,  Prussia,  Austria, 
Sweden,  Russia,  and  other  European  countries,  with  courses  of 
instruction  occupying  from  three  to  four  years — and  even  eight  years 
in  the  Imperial  School  of  Mines  in  St.  Petersburg  !  In  the  United 
States,  where  the  earth  teems  with  mineral  wealth,  schools  of  this 
class  are  of  recent  origin  and  generally  connected  with  other  institu- 
tions. Until  within  a  few  years,  our  young  men  have  been  obliged 
to  go  to  foreign  lands,  in  order  to  become  skilled  miners  and  metal- 


108  INDUSTRIAL     ART      EDUCATION 

lurgists.  Schools  of  commerce  of  a  high  grade  are  common  in  Europe5 
both  independent  of  and  connected  with  other  institutions ;  but  in  the 
United  States  the  only  commercial  training  is  that  afforded  by  the 
business  colleges  established  and  maintained  by  private  enterprise. 
So  also,  in  most  of  the  maritime  countries  of  Europe,  are  found  schools 
of  navigation,  the  object  of  which  is  to  train  mariners  and  masters  of 
merchant  vessels.  The  European  schools  of  forestry,  which  afford 
thorough  theoretical  and  practical  instruction  in  silviculture,  have 
contributed  largely  toward  the  preservation  and  better  cultivation  of 
the  valuable  forests  which  constitute  such  an  important  source  of 
national  wealth.  But  no  such  institution  can  be  found  in  this  country. 
The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  General  John  Eaton, 
has  estimated  that  not  less  than  fifteen  million  dollars'  worth  of 
horses  are  annually  lost  in  this  country  for  the  want  of  skillful  medical 
treatment.  And  yet,  until  recently,  there  have  been  no  opportunities 
in  the  United  States  for  public  instruction  in  veterinary  science ;  or 
they  have  been  very  limited.  Since  1857  there  has  been  a  veterinary 
college  in  the  city  of  New  York  which  claimed  to  be  the  only  regular 
public  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States.  The  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College  at  Amherst,  and  Cornell  University  at  Ithaca, 
New  York,  have  each  a  professor  of  veterinary  science.  What  other 
schools  of  this  kind  have  we  ?  Yet  Europe  has  not  less  than  twenty- 
five  well-organized  veterinary  colleges,  the  best  of  which  are  found  in 
Germany.  Not  only  are  educated  veterinary  surgeons  thus  supplied 
for  the  army  and  the  civil  service,  but  "  privileged  horse-shoers  "  are 
graduated.  So,  too,  schools  for  the  training  of  midwives  are  common 
abroad,  and  in  some  countries  no  woman  is  allowed  to  practice  as 
such  unless  she  is  provided  with  their  certificate.  Austria  has  not 
less  than  eight  of  these  schools,  in  which  more  than  twelve  hundred 
women  every  year  receive  practical  and  theoretical  instruction.  Spe- 
cial schools  of  architecture,  although  of  comparatively  recent  origin, 
also  form  a  part  of  the  educational  system  of  various  continental 
countries.  Most  of  these  technical  schools  are  public  institutions 
under  the  direction  of  the  government. 

The  forward  movement,  however,  has  been  begun  in  the  United 
States.  Under  the  head  of  the  foremost  educator  of  America,  our 
oldest  college  has  already  thrown  off  its  narrow,  conservative,  aca- 
demic character,  and  is  rapidly  advancing  to  a  place  among  the  grand 
universities  of  the  old  world.  Here  also  the  wedge  of  reform  has 
been  entered  into  the  loose  system  of  medical  education  which  has 
always  obtained  in  this  country;  and  the  Harvard  Medical  School 


IN     THE      UNITED     STATES.  109 

bears  aloft  the  standard  of  progress,  the  forerunner  of  a  better  era. 
Although  the  importance  of  creating  State  colleges  of  agriculture  in  the 
United  States  was  urged  by  prominent  agriculturists  as  early  as  the 
year  1837,  the  oldest  institution  of  this  kind  is  not  yet  out  of  its  teens  ; 
for  it  was  not  till  1857,  that  the  State  Agricultural  College  of  Michigan 
was  opened.  But  under  the  impulse  given  by  Congress  in  1862.  when 
about  eight  millions  of  acres  of  the  public  lands  were  granted  for  the 
establishment  of  colleges  of  agricultural  and  the  mechanic  arts  in  all  the 
States  and  territories,  institutions  of  this  kind  have  been  rapidly  mul- 
tiplied, and  are  now  in  successful  operation  in  many  of  the  States. 
In  the  important  department  of  industrial  education,  our  institutions 
are  of  recent  origin.  One  of  the  most  completely  developed,  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  in  Boston,  is  scarcely  a 
dozen  years  old  ;  but  its  facilities  for  instruction  in  the  industrial 
sciences  and  arts  are  already  extensive,  and  will  doubtless  be  greatly 
augmented  in  the  near  future.  In  the  same  field,  doing  good  work, 
are  those  valuable  young  technical  schools,  the  Stevensjnstitute  of 
Technology,  in  Hoboken,  New  Jersey;  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic 
Institute,  in  Troy,  New  York;  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School,  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  the  Polytechnic  College  of  Pennsylvania,  in 
Philadelphia;  and  Lafayette  College,  at  Easton,  Pennsylvania.  While 
in  the  department  of  mining,  a  good  beginning  has  been  made  by 
the  schools  of  mines  of  Harvard  University  and  Yale  and  Colum- 
bia Colleges.  And  here  should  be  mentioned  with  honor  our  young- 
est school  for  industrial  education,  the  Worcester  (Mass.)  Free  Insti- 
tute of  Industrial  Science,  but  recently  opened,  with  its  vast  machine 
shop,  for  practical  training.  The  good  work,  therefore,  in  many 
departments  of  technical  education  is  progressing,  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  latest  feature  into  our  system  of  public  instruction,  that 
of  art  education,  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  that  topic. 

Before  proceeding  further,  it  may  be  well  to  inquire  what  art  edu- 
cation is,  how  it  is  imparted,  and  what  are  its  uses.  And  here  we 
shall  make  a  distinction  between  general  industrial  education  and 
industrial  art  education,  by  treating  the  latter  as  a  branch  of  the 
former.  Mr.  J.  Scott  Russell,  who  has  read  England  a  valuable  lec- 
ture on  this  subject  in  his  "  Systematic  Technical  Education,"  defines 
technical  or  industrial  education  as  "  that  which  shall  render  an 
English  artillery-man  a  better  artillery-man  than  a  French  man  ;  an 
English  soldier  a  better  soldier  than  a  Prussian  ;  an  English  locomo- 
tive builder  better  than  a  German  ;  an  English  ship-builder  better 
than  an  American  ship-builder ;  an  English  silk  manufacturer  supe- 


110  INDUSTRIAL     ART     EDUCATION 

rior  to  a  Lyons  silk-manufacturer ;  an  English  ribbon-manufacturer 
superior  to  a  Swiss  ribbon  manufacturer."  It  is  true  that  art  educa- 
tion, as  a  branch  of  general  industrial  education,  will  contribute  to  all 
these  ends,  and  will  have  an  important  influence  upon  all  branches 
of  manufactures  ;  but  it  relates  more  directly  to  what  may  be  termed 
the  industrial  fine  arts — those  industries  in  which  the  superiority  of 
the  product  consists  in  the  excellence  of  its  model  or  pattern,  the 
taste  of  its  design,  or  the  beauty  of  its  colors.  We  shall  not  here 
consider  art  education  in  its  aesthetic,  but  in  its  industrial  relations  ; 
not  the  more  advanced  branch  which  has  for  its  object  the  training  of 
painters,  sculptors,  fine  engravers,  etc.  ;  but  the  more  elementary  and 
practical  feature  which  gives  us  skilled  workmen  in  the  ordinary 
branches  of  industry.  We  shall  consider,  not  fine  art  education,  but 
industrial  art  education. 

The  system  of  industrial  art  education  is  based  upon  a  thorough 
knowledge  and  skill  in  drawing.  While  drawing  constitutes  an 
important  element  in  every  department  of  technical  education  it  is 
the  main  feature  of  the  branch  under  consideration.  Those  who  look 
upon  drawing  as  valuable  chiefly  to  the  draughtsman  or  architect,  or 
as  a  matter  of  sentiment,  an  idle  accomplishment ;  who  have  derived 
their  views  of  its  utility  from  the  old-fashioned  pedagogue  who  flogged 
his  pupils  for  idling  away  precious  school  hours  by  covering  their 
slates  with  bad  pictures  of  houses,  or  worse  of  ships,  know  little  of  its 
importance  as  an  element  of  national  prosperity.  "  Art  education," 
says  Mr.  Walter  Smith,  •'  in  the  form  of  industrial  drawing,  whatever 
it  may  cost  the  country  will  be  repaid  to  it  in  the  increased  value  of 
industrial  products ;  it  will  develop  the  intellect  of  the  people  in  an 
eminently  practical  direction."  The  French  imperial  commission, 
appointed  in  1863  to  consider  the  best  means  of  advancing  the  art 
education  of  France,  with  the  view  of  improving  its  industrial  facilities, 
after  pointing  out  how  much  French  industry  was  indebted  to  the 
drawing  schools  of  that  country,  reported,  in  1865,  that  "  among  all 
the  branches  of  instruction  which  in  different  degrees  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest  grade  can  contribute  to  the  technical  education  of 
either  sex,  drawing,  in  all  its  forms  and  applications,  has  been  almost 
universally  regarded  as  the  one  which  it  is  most  important  to  make 
common." 

How,  then,  is  this  instruction  to  be  imparted  to  the  masses.  First, 
by  the  public  schools,  in  which  drawing  should  constitute  an  obligatory 
exercise,  from  the  primary  to  the  high  school ;  secondly,  by  night- 
schools  and  evening  classes  for  adults;  thirdly,  by  special  schools  of 


IN      THE     UNITED     STATES.  Ill 

drawing  for  all  classes ;  and  lastly,  by  museums,  art  galleries,  and 
other  public  collections,  as  well  as  courses  of  public  lectures  on  art 
subjects,  all  of  which  are  important  forces  in  the  department  of  indus- 
trial education.  The  benefits  of  this  instruction  are  not  limited  to 
those  apt  with  the  pencil.  The  long  experience  of  Mr.  Smith  has 
taught  him  that  about  one  hundred  per  cent,  of  school  children  can 
be  taught  to  draw  well,  and  that  there  are  but  four  classes  of  human 
beings  incapable  of  profiting  by  this  instruction — the  blind,  the  idiotic, 
the  lunatic,  and  the  paralytic. 

The  less  thoughtful  may  wonder  how  the  industrial  prosperity  of  a 
nation  can  be  so  dependent  upon  the  art  education  of  its  people. 
This  inquiry  has  been  well  met  by  Mr.  Walter  Smith,  in  his  excellent 
treatise,  "  Art  Education,  Scholastic  and  Industrial/'  recently  pub- 
lished. "  Within  the  last  five  and  twenty  years,"  he  says,  "  we  have 
seen  a  wonderful  change  take  place  in  the  money  value  of  the  manu- 
factures of  England.  While  the  cost  of  producing  most  of  the  products 
of  industrial  art  has  decreased  by  about  one-half,  through  the  inven- 
tion of  various  machines  and  the  discovery  of  labor-saving  processes, 
the  actual  value  of  the  manufactured  article,  taking  one  branch  of 
manufacture  with  another,  is  nearly  doubled  ;  and  this  difference  is 
not  to  be  accounted  for  by  any  alteration  in  the  value  of  money. 
How,  then,  is  it  to  be  explained  ?  Simply  thus.  A  manufactured 
article,  whether  a  garment,  a  piece  of  porcelain,  an  article  of  furniture, 
or  even  a  golden  chalice,  may  be  said  to  possess  three  elements  of 
value.  First,  the  raw  material ;  second,  the  labor  of  production ; 
third,  the  art  character.  The  first  two  in  some  few  cases  are  a  large 
proportion  of  the  value  of  the  whole  ;  and,  where  no  art  whatever  is 
displayed,  it  forms  the  whole  value.  But  in  a  vast  majority  of  the 
manufacturing  products  of  every  country,  the  elements  of  cost  of 
material  and  cost  of  labor  are  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the 
third  element,  viz.,  art  character.  It  is  that  which  makes  the  object 
attractive  and  pleasing,  or  repulsive  or  uninteresting,  to  the  pur- 
chaser, and  is  consequently  of  commercial  value.  In  many  objects 
where  the  material  is  of  little  or  no  intrinsic  worth,  the  taste  displayed 
in  their  design  forms  the  sole  value,  or  the  principal,  and  it  has  been 
the  general  elevation  of  that  element  which  has  nearly  doubled  the 
commercial  value  of  English  manufactures.  I  am  not  aware  of  any 
great  improvement  of  material,  or  of  demand,  but  have  seen  with  my 
own  eyes  an  advance  in  the  artistic  element  in  many  branches  of 
British  industry,  from  a  condition  closely  bordering  upon  the  bar- 
barism of  savage  races  to  the  refinement  of  the  greatest  art  epochs. 


112  INDUSTRIAL     ART      EDUCATION 

And  it  has  not  been  an  exceptional  case,  or  a  development  in  one 
direction  owing  to  peculiar  circumstances.  If  we  take  pottery,  glass, 
porcelain,  terra  cotta,  metal  work  in  wrought  iron,  brass,  bronze,  silver 
plate,  goldsmith's  work,  jewelry,  paper-hanging,  carpets,  parquetry, 
encaustic  tiles,  furniture,  cabinet-making,  upholstery,  stained  glass, 
mural  decoration,  wood  and  stone  carving,  chasing,  enameling,  lace- 
making,  embroidery — all  show  that  infusion  of  taste  which  has  in  all 
cases  increased,  and  in  many  cases  doubled  their  value  in  the  market 
in  five  and  twenty  years." 

Again,  in  quoting  the  testimony  upon  this  point  of  a  manufac- 
turer of  one  of  Massachusetts'  busy  industrial  centers,  he  says:  "  In 
one  room  where  I  saw  an  actual  preponderance  of  old  men,  who  were 
studying  the  same  subject  from  the  same  book  which  I  have  taught 
to  children  eight  years  old  and  upward,  a  manufacturer  made  the 
statement  that  their  designs  cost  them  forty-five  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  every  dollar  of  which  went  to  England,  France,  and  Germany. 
If  a  school  of  art  had  been  in  operation  in  that  city  for  te?n  years  the 
designs  would  have  cost  that  manufacturer  perhaps  five  thousand  dol- 
lars  a  year,  and  the  dollars  would  have  been  kept  within  a  mile  of 
the  mill — a  clear  gain  of  forty  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  the  coun- 
try in  one  city  alone.  That  forty  thousand  dollars  a  year  is  one  of 
the  self-imposed  taxes  upon  our  ignorance,  which  we  pay  to  other 
countries,  and  is  a  sign  of  our  bondage  and  slavery  to  them." 

The  experience  of  England  affords  a  forcible  illustration  of  the  prac- 
tical value  of  art  education.  When  the  industrial  and  art  products  of 
all  nations  were  gathered  in  London,  in  1851,  the  English  manufacturers 
were  amazed  at  the  beauty  and  grace  of  design  shown  by  many  articles 
of  continental  manufacture,  and  were  especially  humiliated  by  the 
marked  contrast  between  foreign  earthenware  and  glass,  and  the  Eng- 
lish collection,  "  which,"  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Russell,  "  disgusted 
the  whole  nation  with  its  blue  earthenware,  plates,  cups  and  saucers, 
borrowed  from  the  two  thousand  years'  tradition  of  China,  and  with  its 
huge  lumps  of  glass  called  decanters  and  glasses,  cut  or  molded  into 
hideous  distortions  of  form."  This  inferiority  was  wisely  attributed 
to  the  lack  of  art  education,  by  Prince  Albert,  whose  earnest  efforts 
were  at  once  directed  toward  the  establishment  of  art  schools  in  the 
manufacturing  districts.  So  soon  did  these  young  institutions  bear 
fruit  that  at  the  next  Universal  Exposition  in  1855,  England,  in  the 
opinion  of  Mr.  Russell,  "  was  no  longer  outstripped  in  pottery  and 
glass  "  ;  and  when,  a  few  years  later,  a  commission  came  from  France 
to  ascertain  the  cause  of  this  marked  progress,  they  went  home  and 


IN     THE     UNITED      STATES.  113 

pointed  to  the  English  art  schools,  and  the  South  Kensington  Museum, 
as  a  sufficient  explanation.  The  satire  which  Sir  Charles  Williams, 
quoted  by  Mr.  Marryat,  had  long  ago  directed  against  the  crude 
wares  of  English  potters,  had  now  lost  its  force. 

"  Such  work  as  this  can  England  do  ? 
It  rivals  Dresden  and  outdoes  St.  Cloud. 
For  lace  let  Flanders  bear  away  the  bell, 
In  finest  linen  let  the  Dutch  excel, 
For  prettiest  stuffs  let  Ireland  first  be  named, 
And  for  best-fancied  silks  let  France  be  famed  : 
Do  thou,  thrice  happy  England,  still  prepare 
This  clay,  and  rest  thy  fame  on  earthenware  ! " 

The  English  system  of  art  education  which,  if  not  founded  by 
Prince  Albert,  owes  its  growth  to  the  efforts  made  by  him  after  the 
Exposition  of  1851,  has  continued  to  develop  since  that  date.  In 
1852  there  were  only  twenty  art  schools,  no  night  classes  for  artisans, 
and  no  free  instruction  in  drawing  in  the  public  schools.  Twenty 
years  later,  the  nation  pointed  with  pride  to  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  special  art  schools,  with  nearly  twenty-three  thousand  students, 
and  five  hundred  and  thirty-eight  night  classes,  with  more  than  sev- 
enteen thousand  students,  while  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  chil- 
dren were  taught  drawing  in  the  public  schools  without  charge. 
That  grand  educational  force,  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  which 
has  done  more  for  English  industrial  prosperity  than  any  other  insti- 
tution, was  visited  in  1872  by  upward  of  a  million  persons  ;  while  its 
art  library  was  used  by  twenty  thousand  students  and  its  educational 
library  by  fifteen  thousand.  Five  thousand  four  hundred  of  its 
paintings,  objects,  diagrams,  etc.,  were  circulated  throughout  the 
nation,  and  were  visited  by  three-quarters  of  a  million  persons.  Nu- 
merous objects  were  also  loaned  to  schools  of  art  for  purposes  of 
study.  This  institution  is  not  merely  a  museum  for  the  amusement 
of  the  public,  but  is  also  a  valuable  training  school,  "  where  above  a 
thousand  students  annually  obtain  education,  fitting  them  for  every 
branch  of  art  work,  whether  as  designers,  public  instructors,  painters, 
sculptors,  architects,  engravers,  lithographers,  or  as  connoisseurs." 

Not  alone  in  England,  but  in  France,  Germany,  Belgium,  Switzer- 
land, and  other  continental  countries  has  the  system  of  art  education 
experienced  rapid  progress.  In  the  little  kingdom  of  Wurtemberg, 
with  its  two  million  of  inhabitants,  there  are,  according  to  Stetson, 
four  hundred  drawing  schools. 

Now  let  us  see  what  has  been  done  in  this  direction  by  our  own 


114  INDUSTRIAL      ART      EDUCATION 

country.  In  order  to  ascertain  what  opportunities  are  afforded  for 
art  training  in  the  United  States,  the  National  Bureau  of  Education, 
through  Mr.  I.  Edwards  Clarke,  has  recently  made  very  extensive 
inquiries,  the  replies  to  which  show  that  while  drawing  has  been  intro- 
duced into  the  public  school  system  of  Massachusetts,  where  also 
evening  schools  of  drawing  and  a  normal  art  training  school  have 
been  established  ;  has  been  more  or  less  taught  in  the  public  schools 
in  many  cities  and  towns  of  other  States ;  and  that  mechanical  draw- 
ing is  taught  in  many  schools  of  science  ;  there  are  not  more  than 
a  half  dozen  schools  in  the  United  States  for  practical  training  in 
art  as  applied  to  industry  and  manufactures.  The  Worcester  County 
(Mass.)  Free  Institute  "  offers  a  three  years  course  of  theoretical  and 
practical  training  in  those  branches  of  knowledge  that  underlie  the 
industrial  arts."  Drawing  is  a  prominent  feature  of  all  the  courses 
of  study.  The  Lowell  Free  School  of  Industrial  Design,  connected 
with  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  is  "  intended  to 
train  young  men  and  women  in  practical  designing  for  manufactures." 
The  Woman's  Art  School  at  the  Cooper  Institute  in  New  York  City 
affords  free  instruction  in  drawing,  wood  engraving,  painting,  and  pho- 
tography. Here,  also,  a  Free  Night  School  of  Science  and  Art  is 
maintained  for  instruction  in  mathematics,  chemistry,  mechanics,  natu- 
ral philosophy,  besides  architectural,  mechanical,  and  free-hand  draw- 
ing from  copy,  cast,  and  life,  and  perspective  and  modeling  in  clay. 
The  Philadelphia  School  of  Design  for  Women  is  open  ten  months 
during  the  year;  it  is  the  only  one  of  those  here  enumerated  in 
which  tuition  is  not  free,  the  charge  being  forty  dollars  per  annum. 
Its  aim  is  "  the  systematic  training  of  young  women  in  a  knowledge 
of  the  principles  and  practice  of  the  art  of  design,  to  develop  and  ex- 
ercise their  talents  therein,  and  to  qualify  them  for  the  practical 
application  of  art  to  the  common  uses  of  daily  life,  and  in  the  taste- 
ful shaping  and  adornment  of  our  manufactures."  The  School  of 
Design  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati  (Ohio)  is  supported  by  the 
fund  bequeathed  to  the  city  for  this  purpose  by  Charles  McMicken. 
The  course  of  study  extends  through  four  years. 

This,  according  to  the  National  Bureau,  comprises  the  special 
institutions  for  industrial  and  technical  art  education  provided  for 
forty  millions  of  people.  It  should  be  observed  that  a  marked  pecu- 
liarity of  the  schools  here  enumerated  is  that  their  existence  is  due, 
not  to  the  State,  but  to  individuals.  While  institutions  of  this  class 
in  Europe  are  established,  and  fostered  and  directed  by  the  govern- 


IN     THE     UNITED     STATES.  115 

ment,  here  the  government  has  contributed  nothing  to  their  organiza- 
tion or  continuance. 

Massachusetts,  however,  has  made  the  first  step  in  this  direction, 
and  which  in  after  years  will  be  pointed  to  as  one  of  her  proudest 
achievements.  "  The  movement  in  favor  of  art  education  in  Massa- 
chusetts," says  Mr.  Smith,  "  is  distinctly  traceable  to  the  influence  of 
a  few  men,  who,  from  European  experience,  saw  that  their  country 
and  State  were  behind  the  times  in  the  promotion  of  art ;  that  this 
materially  affected  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the  nation  and  its 
character  as  an  educated  people;  while  the  natural  progress  of  manu- 
factures and  the  accumulation  of  wealth  by  the  people  required 
increased  skill  in  the  workmen,  and  the  varied  opportunities  of  art 
education  generally."  It  is  proper  that  the  beginning  should  be 
in  this  ancient  industrial  commonwealth  ;  for  Massachusetts,  with 
upward  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  invested  in  manu- 
factures, yielding  annually  more  than  six  hundred  million  dollars,  may 
be  regarded  as  the  leader  of  our  industrial  States.  Here,  where  three 
million  spindles  are  busy  in  five  hundred  cotton  and  woolen  mills,  is 
the  home  of  the  American  textile  industry. 

The  law  making  drawing  an  obligatory  study  in  all  the  public 
schools  of  the  commonwealth,  from  the  primary  to  the  high,  and 
requiring  every  city  or  town  containing  over  twenty  thousand  in- 
habitants to  provide  free  evening  instruction  in  industrial  drawing 
for  all  persons  over  fifteen  years  old,  was  passed  in  1870.  Soon 
after  Mr.  Walter  Smith,  then  head  master  of  the  Leeds  School 
of  Art  and  Science,  was  made  the  State  director  of  art  educa- 
tion. This,  as  Mr.  E.  P.  Whipple  wittily  remarked,  was  the  best 
importation  Massachusetts  ever  made.  Rich  in  experience  acquired 
by  years  of  study  and  observation,  and  with  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  English  and  continental  systems  of  art  education,  Mr.  Smith 
has  labored  to  organize  a  system  for  Massachusetts  with  an  intel- 
ligent zeal  and  success  that  have  won  admiration  from  all  sides.  In 
1873  the  Legislature  further  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a 
State  Normal  Art  School  for  the  training  of  teachers  of  industrial 
drawing.  This  institution,  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States, 
was  opened  at  Boston  in  November  of  that  year,  and  has  already  done 
much  valuable  work;  but,  owing  to  a  lack  of  funds,  its  facilities  are 
entirely  inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the  State.  There  is,  however,  no 
doubt  that  it  will  soon  grow  into  one  of  the  grandest  monuments  on 
Massachusetts  soil.  The  plan  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Smith  comprises  a 
thirteen  years'  course  of  instruction  in  drawing,  including  thr;e  years 

•T* 


116  INDUSTRIAL     ART      EDUCATION 

in  the  primary,  six  in  the  grammar,  and  four  in  the  high  schools.  He 
also  urges  the  legislature  to  make  the  establishment  of  free  evening 
drawing  schools  for  adults,  obligatory  upon  all  cities  and  towns  of  the 
commonwealth  having  five  thousand  or  more  inhabitants,  thus  making 
sixty-six  instead  of  twenty-three,  the  whole  number  of  cities  and 
towns  supporting  schools  of  this  class.  Annual  exhibitions  of  the 
drawings  made  during  the  year  are  held  in  the  various  cities  and 
towns.  The  results  of  the  latest  exhibitions  astonished  the  most 
ardent  friends  of  the  enterprise,  and  demonstrated  conclusively  the 
importance  of  art  education  and  its  success  in  Massachusetts. 

It  may,  perhaps,  seem  too  extravagant  to  attribute  the  industrial 
superiority,  or  inferiority,  of  a  nation  to  its  system  of  industrial  edu- 
cation. It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  the  Sandwich  Islands  head- 
ing the  column  in  the  industrial  arts,  even  though  the  group  were 
covered  with  art  schools  as  completely  as  it  is  surrounded  by  water. 
And  yet  look  at  Switzerland  !  Deprived  by  nature  of  nearly  every 
advantage  for  industrial  progress,  a  country  of  mountains  without 
mines,  of  lakes  without  outlets,  with  no  ports,  no  navigable  rivers,  no 
canals!  Yet  among  her  picturesque  mountains  skilled  industry  has 
found  a  home.  Neither  the  looms  of  Lyons  nor  those  of  St.  Etienne 
can  excel  her  ribbons.  Her  watches,  jewelry,  and  carved  wood  are  the 
admiration  of  the  world.  Not  only  are  the  products  of  Swiss  industry 
found  in  every  country  but  Swiss  workmen  are  everywhere  in  demand. 
Now,  while  this  little  Alpine  nation  has  developed  such  admirable 
industrial  skill,  it  has  also  developed  one  of  the  finest  systems  of 
industrial  education  on  the  continent.  The  magnificent  polytechnic 
school  of  Zurich  is  crowded  with  students  from  all  parts  of  Europe. 
Other  conditions  or  elements  of  industrial  progress  than  industrial 
education  are  doubtless  essential.  But  every  government  of  Europe 
which  has  studied  this  problem  as  one  of  great  national  importance, 
looks  to  industrial  education  as  the  chief  means  of  advancement  in 
the  industrial  arts. 

It  is  a  fact  full  of  significance  to  the  United  States,  which  has  all 
the  natural  resources  to  lead  the  civilized  world  in  manufactures,  that 
the  nation  (the  United  States)  which  made  the  poorest  exhibition  of 
industrial  products  at  the  Universal  Expositions  of  1851  and  1867, 
made  also  the  poorest  exposition  of  industrial  schools  at  home  ;  and 
that  the  countries  which  give  to  the  world  the  richest  silks,  the 
costliest  carpets,  the  most  valuable  woolen  fabrics,  the  best  cotton 
prints,  the  most  artistic  productions  of  the  pottery,  the  glass  factory, 
the  bronze  foundry,  and  the  marble  works,  also  have  built  the  most 


IN      THE      UNITED      STATES  117 

and  the  best  industrial  schools.  It  is  true  that  certain  branches  of 
American  manufactures  have  been  wrought  to  a  degree  of  excellence 
that  has  won  a  leading  position  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  Con- 
necticut clocks  mark  the  time  for  almost  as  many  nations  as  does  the 
sun.  American  rifles  have  done  their  deadly  work  in  every  civilized 
country.  American  sewing  machines  and  pianos  have  carried  happi- 
ness to  the  homes  of  every  land  ;  and  American  agricultural  imple- 
ments have  gladdened  the  farmer's  heart  m  every  harvest  field  under 
the  sun.  We  have  even  acquired  an  enviable  distinction  abroad  in 
the  production  of  certain  domestic  implements  ;  for  the  American  rat- 
traps,  pumps,  door  locks,  sausage  machines,  coffee  mills,  washing 
machines,  buckets,  clothes-pegs,  besides  notions  and  gimcracks  of 
various  kinds,  have  so  charmed  domestics  of  foreign  countries,  that 
similar  articles  of  home  manufacture  have  been  driven  from  the  mar- 
ket. But  this  group  of  articles  showing  the  excellence  of  American 
industry  is  the  result,  not  of  that  wide-spread  knowledge  of  chem- 
istry, of  drawing,  of  designing,  and  of  science  generally,  which,  infused 
into  the  working  classes,  has  produced  those  rare  silks,  laces,  car- 
pets, woolen  fabrics,  cotton  prints,  ceramic  and  glass  ware,  marbles 
and  bronzes,  which  come  to  us  from  the  work-shops  of  Europe  ;  but 
they  are  the  outgrowth  of  that  wonderful  inventive  faculty,  that 
"  Yankee  ingenuity  "  which  is  indigenous  to  this  country.  The  fleeces 
of  California  are  dressed  by  American  machinery,  beyond  the  reach 
of  German  ingenuity  ;  but  the  peasants  of  Saxony  weave  that  yarn 
into  designs  and  colors  that  America  can  not  rival.  A  Yankee  sends 
to  the  cotton  fields  of  the  South  a  machine  for  picking  cotton,  the 
value  of  which  can  not  be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents  ;  but  the 
English  mills  put  that  cotton  into  prints  that  are  beyond  our 
competition. 

An  important  problem,  then,  not  alone  for  the  manufacturers,  but 
also  the  publicists  of  the  United  States,  is  presented  by  the  inquiries: 
Why  do  the  merchants  of  Liverpool  glean  our  cotton  fields  ?  Why 
does  much  of  our  wool  go  to  Saxony,  only  to  return  in  fabrics  that  our 
skill  can  not  equal?  Why  do  the  looms  of  Lyons  weave  better  silks 
than  those  of  Connecticut  ?  What  is  the  secret,  the  explanation,  of 
this  superior  industrial  skill  of  foreign  lands?  Can  this  country  profit 
by  the  experience  of  Europe  ?  England  has  made  substantially  the 
same  inquiries,  and  has  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  superiority 
of  continental  workmanship  is  due,  not  to  greater  natural  advantages, 
either  in  materials,  surroundings,  or  workmen  ;  but  to  superior 
systems  of  technical  education.  As  Americans  are  mu<  h  given  to  dis- 


118  INDUSTRIAL     ART      EDUCATION 

posing  of  problems  by  series  of  resolutions,  the  probable  procedure  in 
a  case  of  this  kind,  would  be  the  appointment  of  a  political  committee 
whose  report  would  be  about  as  follows  :  "  Whereas  the  superiority 
of  many  articles  of  English,  French,  and  German  manufacture  places 
them  beyond  American  competition  ;  and  whereas  it  is  our  first  duty 
to  encourage  American  industry — therefore  be  it  resolved  that  a  duty 
of  fifty  per  cent,  be  imposed  upon  all  articles  of  foreign  manufacture 
which  may  be  superior  to  our  own." 

Now  let  us  see  how  this  problem  has  been  grappled  by  foreign 
nations  struggling  for  the  mastery  in  the  industrial  arts.  It  has 
already  been  shown  how  schools  of  art  began  to  spring  up  in  the  glass 
and  pottery  districts  of  England  after  the  lesson  of  1851.  But  that 
same  international  contest  afforded  the  French  and  Germans  a  lesson 
of  another  kind.  They  entered  that  industrial  arena,  not  so  much  to 
parade  their  achievements  as  to  study  their  weaknesses.  They  saw  that 
in  the  great  objects  of  constructive  skill,  especially  in  the  departments 
of  steel  and  iron,  such  as  machinery  for  mechanical  and  transportation 
purposes,  England  held  a  supremacy  founded  on  the  experience  of 
half  a  century.  They  saw  that  in  raw  materials  competition  was 
hopeless.  But  they  said  :  "  Against  English  wealth  we  will  put  con- 
tinental education  ;  against  their  abundance  of  raw  material,  we  will 
set  our  greater  skill  in  using  it.  If  we  lack  that  skill,  our  technical 
schools  must  produce  it.  Our  ambition  shall  be  to  take  their  un- 
wrought  material  and  return  it  to  them  wrought  with  our  superior 
skill."  From  here  dates  that  magnificent  system  of  European  indus- 
trial education,  a  system  which  has  dotted  the  continent  with  techni- 
cal schools.  So  marked  was  the  progress  of  the  French  and  Germans 
in  iron,  steel,  and  metal  manufacture,  the  great  staples  of  English 
pride,  that  such  Cassandra-like  critics  as  J.  Scott  Russell  pointed  out 
the  danger  threatening  England  from  foreign  rivalry  ;  but  the  nation, 
blinded  by  self-satisfaction,  and  fortified  in  the  belief  that  English 
supremacy  was  perpetual,  was  not  thoroughly  alarmed  till  the  Expo- 
sition of  1867.  "We  then  learned,"  says  that  same  clear-sighted 
critic,  "  not  that  we  were  equaled,  but  that  we  were  beaten,  not  on 
some  points,  but  by  some  nation  or  other  on  nearly  all  those  points 
on  which  we  had  prided  ourselves/'  The  mills  of  Prussia  were  already 
forging  Krupp's  steel  for  English  railways,  on  which  the  magnificent 
French  locomotives  of  Creusot  began  to  appear.  But  it  had  taken 
fifteen  years  to  teach  the  average  Englishman  what  others  saw  in  five, 
viz.,  that  the  long  undisputed  supremacy  of  England  might  be  trans- 


IN     THE      UNITEDSTATES.  119 

ferred  across  the  channel  ;  that  English  mills  alone  were  no  match  for 
German  and  French  workshops  backed  by  technical  schools. 

The  English  government,  at  last  awakened  to  a  realization  of  the 
situation,  ordered  the  manufacturers  of  the  nation  to  investigate  and 
report  upon  the  causes  of  this  marked  improvement  in  foreign  indus- 
tries. The  unanimous  answer  of  all  may  be  given  in  the  report  of  the 
Birmingham  Chamber  of  Commerce:  "In  other  countries,  the  work- 
people are  instructed  in  science  and  art;  the  effect  of  this  is  shown  in 
the  rapid  improvement  of  their  manufactures  in  beauty  of  form,  excel- 
lence of  finish,  adaptation  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  intended, 
and  cheapness."  The  government  asked  the  English  artisans: 
"  How  do  foreign  dyers  paint  the  silks  of  Lyons  and  St.  Etienne,  the 
ribbons  of  Zurich  and  Basle,  the  woolen  fabrics  of  Chemnitz,  and  the 
worsted  goods  of  Rheims  in  colors  like  nature?  Why  do  their  goods 
show  a  finish  which  ours  can  not  rival  ?  "  The  same  answer  came 
from  the  hosiery  producers  of  Nottingham,  the  shawl  makers  of  Leeds, 
the  silk  makers  of  Coventry,  and  the  Bradford  manufacturers  of  worsted 
goods.  "  It  is  chemistry.  France,  Switzerland,  and  Saxony  give  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  chemistry,  not  alone  to  their  professors  and 
scholars,  but  to  their  dyers  and  workingmen.  We  do  not.  On  the  con- 
tinent, dyers  are  chemists ;  here  they  are  not.  Only  special  and 
thorough  instruction  in  chemistry  will  enable  our  workmen  to  compete 
with  those  of  the  continent."  In  the  same  year  the  English  Council 
of  the  Society  of  Arts  sent  eighty  skilled  workmen,  representing  almost 
as  many  industries,  to  the  work-shops  of  France  to  find  out  the  secret 
of  French  superiority  in  certain  branches  of  manufacture.  Their  unan- 
imous reply  was:  " Their  industrial  education  has  caused  it."  Lord 
Stanley  addressed  similar  inquiries  to  the  English  foreign  consuls  ;  and 
the  reports  were  the  same  from  France,  Switzerland,  Prussia,  Saxony, 
Bavaria,  and  Belgium — "  Industrial  Education." 
Here  then  is  a  lesson  for  the  United  States. 

"  Let  those  be  teachers  who  themselves  excel." 

The  experience  of  Europe  teaches  that  nations  with  the  poorest 
natural  advantages,  by  industrial  education,  may  take  a  front  rank  in 
industrial  prosperity  ;  and  that  wealth  of  raw  material  does  not  neces- 
sarily secure  industrial  supremacy.  What  prize,  then  may  be  within 
the  reach  of  this  country?  With  an  agricultural  wealth  to  which  no 
limits  can  be  assigned,  with  mineral  riches  everywhere  bursting  through 
the  surface,  with  an  abundance  of  water  power  that  no  number  of  mills 
can  exhaust,  with  a  network  of  railroads,  water  channels,  and  telegraph 


120  INDUSTRIAL      ART      EDUCATION. 

lines,  that  annihilate  distance  between  the  field  and  the  factory,  the 
mine  and  the  mill — with  all  these  and  more  riches,  not  to  advance,  not 
to  rival  the  skilled  industry  of  Europe,  is  not  a  loss  merely,  but  a 
crime.  Here  is  the  cotton  field  of  the  world;  gold  and  silver  mines 
that  supply  all  nations  ;  beds  of  coal  and  iron  that  can  never  be 
exhausted  ;  forests  shading  every  hill-side,  and  fleeces  whitening 
every  valley.  What  is  wanting  to  secure  industrial  supremacy?  Let 
Scott  Russell  answer:  "  The  highest  value  in  the  world's  markets  will 
be  obtained  by  that  nation  which  has  been  at  most  pains  to  culti- 
vate the  intelligence  of  its  people  generally,  and  afterward,  to  give 
each  the  highest  education  and  training  in  his  special  calling.  In 
other  words,  the  value  of  the  nation's  work  will  vary  with  the  excel- 
lence of  the  national  system  of  technical  education."  Let  Humboldt 
answer :  "  National  wealth  and  the  increasing  prosperity  of  nations 
must  be  based  in  an  enlightened  employment  of  natural  products  and 
forces/'  Let  Justus  Liebig  answer  :  "  The  nation  most  quickly  pro- 
moting the  intellectual  development  of  its  industrial  population  must 
advance  as  surely  as  the  country  neglecting  it  must  inevitably  retro- 
grade." Let  Sir  Robert  Peel  answer :  "  If  we  are  inferior  in  knowl- 
edge, skill,  and  intelligence  to  the  manufacturers  of  other  countries, 
the  increased  facilities  of  intercourse  will  result  in  transferring  the 
demand  from  us  to  others."  Let  the  experience  of  Europe  answer : 
44  Industrial  supremacy  is  the  prize  of  industrial  education/' 


Manufacturers  of 

BRILLIANT  BLACK  &  COLORED 


]\fo.  133  tfulton  gtfeet,  ]Sfew  Yofk. 


are    used  in    the 
Establishment  of  Messrs.  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co. 


BROWN  BROTHERS  &  CO., 

No.   59    Wall    Street,    New  York;     No.   211    Chestnut    Street,    Philadelphia; 
No.  66  State  Street,   Boston. 

ALEXANDER   BROWN  &  SONS,  BALTIMORE, 
DF^AW  BILLS  OF  EXCHANGE  ON  GT\EAT  BRITAIN  &  JI^ELAND, 

3|g0iic  Commercial  anD  Cratoelei'0  CreDits, 

AVAILABLE    IN   ANY   PART  OF   THE  WORLD. 

Make  Telegraphic  Transfers  of  Money  between  this  Country  and  Europe. 


TO     TRAVELERS. 

Travelers'  Credits  issued,  either  against  cash  deposited  or  satisfactory  guarantee 
of  repayment,  in  Dollars  for  use  in  the  United  States  and  adjacent  Countries ;  or  in 
Pounds  sterling  for  use  in  any  part  of  the  World. 

Application  for    Credits    may   be  addressed  to   either  of  the  above  Houses  direct,  or 
through  any  first-class  Bank  or  Banker. 


ESTERBROOK'S 


STEEL 
PEKS. 


Camden,  N.  J.  New  York. 

THE  ESTERBROOK  STEEL  PEN  CO. 


KIGGINS,     TOOKER     &     CO., 


PUBLISHERS    OF    EXCELSIOR    DiARIES   ANNUALLY. 


Also,  Manufacturers  of  Leather  Goods,  and  Importing  Stationers, 

123    &    125    WILLIAM    STREET,    BET.    FULTON    AND    JOHN, 

NEW  YOE\K. 


60   John   Street,   near    William, 
NEW    YORK, 

MANUFACTURE,     AND    J^AYE     CONSTANTLY    ON     MAND,    A    J^ULL 

OF     THE      FlNEST 


Book 


FOR     THE      SUPPLY     OF 


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RECEIVED  THE  GOLD  MEDAL, 

Paris  Exposition,  1878. 
His  Celebrated  Numbers, 

3O3-4O4- 1  7O-35 1  -332, 

and  his  other  styles  may  be  had  of  all  dealers 
throughout  the  world. 

Joseph  Gillott  &  SOH3,          New  Tork. 


^^S?fiSS£ra?  Im 

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